De Mensen launches tennis player Kim Clijsters doc series in Belgium

Belgian TV production company De Mensen will premiere its documentary series "Kim Clijsters: Come Back Home" on OTT platform Proximus Pickx and on public broadcaster VRT this month. In 2019 former WTA number one tennis ace Kim Clijsters wanted to make a comeback at the highest level, seven years after retiring from professional tennis. In 2022, the De Mensen camera team recording every step and slide from day one.

"I absolutely do not like camera attention, and i always saw that as an inevitable consequence of my career as a professional athlete. So, it was not an easy decision to say yes to this documentary. I decided on a gut feeling and on one condition: to capture my life as it is, not as an idealizing commercial. Whoever will watch my documentary is bound to see me, as i am: a mom, a partner, an athlete. Nothing more, nothing less,” said Kim Clijsters.

Kim Clijsters rocketed herself to the absolute top level of professional world tennis. she became an international audience sweetheart and the WTA world number one. After raising the bar as the ‘OG tennis mom’ in the women’s tennis circuit and after an amazing career gathering titles in four grand slams and three WTA tournaments, in 2012, Kim decided it was time to stop. But, in 2019, after almost seven years out of the limelight, Kim – then 36 and a dedicated mom of three - makes a bold move absolutely nobody expected.

In the six-part documentary series produced by De Mensen, audiences witness the daring comeback of the former world champion every step of the way. What starts as a documentary about defying all odds, about picking the racket back up for the love of the game, about the burning ambition to return to the highest level at an age and in circumstances no one else would, turns out something even more relevant. The embedded camera team captures a failing comeback and the struggle of an ambitious top athlete to cope with that.

The documentary fol lows every step of the comeback process, from the first sky-high expectations over early successes and daily life struggles to major pitfalls and ultimately settling in a new post-career life. The result is a compelling tv-documentary on one of the most influential athletes in tennis history.