Tennis recap

After losing four grand slam finals (three of them to her compatriot, Justine Henin-Hardenne), Kim Clijsters finally shakes off the title "best player never to have won a Grand Slam" by trouncing Mary Pierce 6-3 6-1 in a little over an hour last Saturday to win the US Open. By doing so, Kim won $2.2 million ($1.1 M for the US Open title plus a 100% bonus for also winning the US Open series). This is the biggest paycheck in the history of women's tennis!

• Aside from this fantastic record, here are a couple of other statistics:
• Kim has now won 7 titles this year, more than any other woman so far
• She also goes up to #3 in the WTA rankings
• However, based on points won this year alone, she leads everyone else, including #1 Maria Sharapova and #2 Lindsay Davenport
• With her huge paycheck, Kim also now has earned more money than anyone else on tour

Now that she's won, I am hoping she starts winning at least a couple more slams (perhaps the Australian Open next year). She didn't seem as nervous as she used to in Slam finals against Mary, apart from two consecutive games in the 1st set where she made multiple errors and barely won a point. But now that she has one Slam neatly tucked under her belt, the floodgates may have just opened for her.

******

Congratulations go out to Roger Federer for beating Andre Agassi in the final to win his 2nd US Open and 6th slam overall. Congatulations as well to 35 year old Andre Agassi for getting to the finals, winning three 5-setters in a row.

******

If there was an award for the ugliest tennis shirt, though, it has to go to the shirt worn by Dominik Hrbaty. He was actually asked about his shirt and he laughed about it and said something to the effect that maybe the designers thought that the holes at the back of the shirt were good for letting air in or something (although I don't think it's good for tan lines). If you don't believe me, check this photo out: