Kim Clijsters kept her anger in check after her latest Grand Slam heartbreak on Saturday, refusing to blame a controversial line call for her 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 defeat by Justine Henin-Hardenne in the Australian Open final.
Clijsters was the victim of an overrule from the chair umpire while facing break point at 4-3 down in the final set. Television replays showed her volley had clipped the baseline.
"I'm not going to blame the umpire or anything because everybody makes mistakes," said Clijsters, biting her tongue.
"I'm not the type of player to start complaining after matches. I don't want to start any trouble. A few people have told me that it was in, so that's even more disappointing."
In a rare show of temper, Clijsters yelled, "No way!" following umpire Sandra De Jenken's intervention on that crucial point.
After the match, Clijsters agreed that a second umpire would help avoid confusion over line calls.
"You know, that's what they do in cricket. I'm not going to say that because it happened to me today that all of a sudden I want to have it. But maybe, yeah, in the future," she said.
Clijsters added: "You feel things when they come off the racket. I definitely had the feeling it was good but there's nothing I can do about it now."
World number one Henin-Hardenne, meanwhile, strongly denied that she had influenced the umpire's decision by raising her finger to indicate the ball had been long.
"The umpire took her responsibilities and I think that it was a very tough call. But I think it was just long. It's very hard to say," she said, adding that she did not see the replays.
"I was pretty sure. That's why I said it was long from my point of view. So I didn't look at the image and, you know, right now I don't care too much about this."
DEVASTATING BLOW
For Clijsters, defeat by Henin-Hardenne was another devastating blow, having lost to her fellow Belgian in the finals of the French Open and U.S. Open last year.
"It's always tough to lose them. I definitely felt like today I played a lot better than I did in the previous finals that I played against her," said second seed Clijsters.
"Justine makes you go for so many shots that are not natural. You try to go closer to the lines and then you miss a few. She made me go a little bit out of my comfort zone."
Clijsters was satisfied to reach her first Melbourne final as she was troubled by an ankle injury throughout her campaign.
"My foot is not 100 percent, so in a way I'm very lucky to have been out there. I could have been home for two weeks in Belgium... watching matches on TV," said the 20-year-old, who sprained her left ankle at the Hopman Cup earlier this month.
Clijsters, dubbed "Aussie Kim" in Melbourne because of her engagement to Australia's Lleyton Hewitt, bristled at suggestions that she had "choked" again after losing her fourth Grand Slam final.
"I don't think it's got anything to do with the psychological (side) at all," said Clijsters, who had come within two points of winning the 2001 French Open final before losing to Jennifer Capriati.
"It's the little things. My serve was off. I just have to make sure I stay aggressive...be more mature. I just wasn't consistent enough."
