By Etienne Stekelenburg
February 21 2004

(Antwerp) Belgacom, the Belgian communication company, will organize a match between Kim Clijsters and Lleyton Hewitt. The event will take place in Bree, Clijsters’ hometown. Clijsters said she welcomed the chance because she could not play him at the Hopman Cup in January due to an ankle injury. “I am not going to let hem win”, Clijsters said about her chances against the former No. 1 of the ATP. “It’s going to be fun but Lleyton will not wear a skirt and bra like Yannick Noah did when he played Justine”.

The event takes place in Bree where Clijsters and Hewitt are free to walk the streets and sit in restaurants without being asked for autographs and people coming up for a word. “Lleyton really likes the place” Clijsters said, “its quite similar to Adelaide were he comes from”.

After Clijsters and Hewitt played a singles match they will team up against a mixed double team. At this time it is not yet known who will take part in this team. The night will be also a tribute to both players with a special show around both players.

Clijsters said it will be hard playing against Hewitt, when she plays against him its mostly two against one. Lleyton is on his own Kim is joined by the Hewitt’s coach. At a suggestion that Lleyton would play with a handicap she said she was going to find out if that was possible.

Besides playing tennis Kim Clijsters is involved with a lot of charity work. She does visit hospitals and helping with money for surgery and other things for kids and needy. She said it’s worthwhile when a mum tells her that her kid didn’t smile for four days and is shining when Kim arrives.

Her charity work is kept very low profile because she feels she does not want to be in the spotlights with her other activities outside of tennis. She prefers charity work that involves sport like giving tennis clinics for disabled children.

She also gets a lot of letters from people who thank her for the pleasure she brings them with her tennis career. Clijsters said she is very much aware of the fact that she is lucky to be healthy and therefore able to return something to the community. This has a lot to do with her mother’s health, who was received a liver transplant in March of 1999.

“My mums health problems were a large contribution in my decision to do this kind of charity work,” Clijsters said.