5 tennis players who made a comeback after retiring

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Kim Clijsters

Just recently, former World no. 1 men's tennis player Marcelo Rios announced that he would make a comeback to the sport after a gap of 14 years. After having retired in 2004, the 43-year-old plans to return to the Challenger tour.

He is the only male player in the Open Era to never have won a single Grand Slam title despite holding the no. 1 ranking, which he did for six weeks in 1998.

Apart from Rios, we have seen multiple players make a comeback to the sport after calling it quits. While many found a lot of success on their return, there were a few who failed to make an impact.

In this article, we take a look at 5 such players who made a sensational comeback to the sport after retiring:

#5 Kim Clijsters

Kim Clijsters had won just one Grand Slam title before announcing her retirement in May 2007. Her lone victory came at the US Open in 2005. She was a two-time finalist at the French Open in 2001 and 2003, losing to Jennifer Capriati and Justin Henin-Harden respectively.

However, two years after announcing her retirement, Clijsters made a return to the sport during the hard court swing of 2009. In her third tournament on return, she claimed her second Grand Slam title of her career at the US Open. By doing so, she became the first unseeded player and wildcard to win a Grandslam in women's tennis. She also became the first mother since 1980 to win a Slam.

She did not stop there as she went on to defend her US Open crown in 2010 and followed that up with a victory at the Australian Open in 2011 as well. She eventually retired from the sport after the US Open in 2012.

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