Kim Clijsters will organize and manage a $25,000 ITF event next year in Bree, Belgium - where her tennis academy is located. The former world number one was the tournament director of the BNP Paribas Fortis Diamond Games in Antwerp earlier this year, but that tournament has since been removed from the WTA calendar.
Some background information on Clijsters' life post-tennis
After retiring for a second time at the 2012 US Open, Clijsters has given birth to her second child with husband Brian Lynch, competed in numerous exhibitions with some of the biggest legends of the game, as well as become the tournament director of the Diamond Games in Antwerp. The Diamond Games proved to be a great success, with lots of adoring Belgian tennis fans flocking to Antwerp to catch some of the best tennis players in the world. Unfortunately, that success wasn't enough to keep the tournament on the WTA calendar for another season, as they were replaced by a tournament in St. Petersburg.
Clijsters' new tournament in Bree
Now still in the early stages of development, Clijsters and her team have not announced much, apart from the new tournament added to the ITF calendar. At this time, the only information released about the $25,000 tournament is that it will be played at Clijsters' tennis academy in Bree, and it will be played the week of August 22nd, 2016.
The tournament will be played after the two ITF tournaments in Koksijde and Westende, which are both cities in Belgium. "This way, the players can play three tournaments without having to do much traveling," said Clijsters to the news agency RTBF. "We especially want young Belgians to taste the high level [of professional tennis]."
With the experience that she has from playing, watching and running a tournament, the $25,000 tournament in Bree - also referred to as the Kim Clijsters Trophy - is guaranteed to be a success for everyone involved.