Shocking retirement of Elena Dementieva is still one of the main news over the tennis boards. Apart from shock some people were suggesting she should take a rest, and then come back. Some players proved that it is never too late to come back to tennis, especially while today’s WTA Tour is not as strong as some years ago.
The best example of a coming-back girl is the 40 years-old Japanese Kimiko Date-Krumm. She came back in 2008 being motivated by her husband, who (as she told of one of the interviews) never seen her playing and told her she stands a change with the best ones.
Next years shown that he was right in his judgement – his wife played very well for all three seasons, and defeated Dinara Safina and Samantha Stosur who were both in the top 10 while she was playing them. It happened in 2010. She finished the season with the strong third place of Bali Championships, where she defeated Daniela Hantuchova from Slovakia in two sets.
Kimiko Date-Krumm is probably the best example of saying that it is never too late to play sports on a competitive level. If she wins a WTA title in 2011 she will become the oldest woman to win a singles title since the Tour has started. She was very close this year in Osaka, but she lost to Tamarine Tanasugarn.
Some may say that female mind is very unpredictable – we can never be sure if some girl who was on top and decided to put a stop to her career decides to get back and shock everyone with good result. The same happened with Lindsay Davenport who told the press she definately finishes her tennis career as she is pregnant. When she gave birth she decided that it is still to early to give up – and she was only 32 when she came back. As we know she decided not to play singles for now, and try only in few tournaments in 2010 (in doubles) but her come back was quite a good one.
I can’t forget to mention Kim Clijsters, whose come back run to win US Open twice was almost as shocking as her retirement in 2007 in Warsaw. She came back as a mother, but she is still young for a tennis player – 27 is the age when some of WTA players achieve their biggest successes. She already told she will play for some more years, and after that will make a definite end, but noone can predict a future when it comes to her.
Martina Navratilova played till she was 50, will Kimiko Date-Krumm be with us as long as Martina? Time will tell, but she may be a great example that it is never too late to join the tour again and become a top 50 player with great wins. Who knows – maybe in some years we will see stars like Amelie Mauresmo, Jennifer Capriati or mentioned Elena Dementieva back on tour again?