# Elke Clijsters

Elke Clijsters (born 18 January 1985) is a former professional tennis player from Belgium.

## Career

Elke won the 2002 girls' Wimbledon Championships doubles title with Barbora Strýcová, and the girls' US Open doubles title with compatriot Kirsten Flipkens. Her highest singles ranking was 389, a ranking she achieved on 15 September 2003. She played in the Belgium Fed Cup team in 2002, 2003 and 2004, losing all four matches, of which one was a singles match. In 2004, she reached the finals of two ITF singles tournaments, winning the one in Bournemouth. In the same year, she also reached the finals of two ITF doubles tournaments, of which she also won one. She retired in 2004 due to a persistent back injury.
In 2021, Clijsters participated in the Belgian version of The Bachelorette.

## Personal life

Her father was the Belgian football player Lei Clijsters (1956–2009) and her sister is former world No. 1 tennis player, Kim Clijsters (born 1983). Elke married footballer Jelle Van Damme on 31 May 2008 in Bree, Belgium. They had their first child in 2009, a boy. She gave birth to their second child, a girl in November 2010. Their marriage ended in 2016. She also dated darts player Mike De Decker.

## ITF Circuit finals

* $100,000 tournaments
* $75,000 tournaments
* $50,000 tournaments
* $25,000 tournaments
* $10,000 tournaments

### Singles: 4 (1 title, 3 runner-ups)

| Result | No. | Date | Tournament | Surface | Opponent | Score |
| Loss | 1. | 7 April 2003 | ITF Torre del Greco, Italy | Clay | Raffaella Bindi | 4–6, 2–6 |
| Loss | 2. | 11 August 2003 | ITF Koksijde, Belgium | Clay | Lenka Snajdrová | 4–6, 2–6 |
| Win | 3. | 1 May 2004 | ITF Bournemouth, United Kingdom | Clay | Melanie South | 3–,6 6–1, 6–2 |
| Loss | 4. | 8 May 2004 | ITF Edinburgh, United Kingdom | Clay | Ekaterina Kozhokina | 1–6, 4–6 |

### Doubles: 10 (7 titles, 3 runner-ups)

| Result | No. | Date | Tournament | Surface | Partner | Opponents | Score |
| Loss | 1. | 21 August 2000 | ITF Westende, Belgium | Clay | Caroline Maes | Natasha Galouza Anouk Sterk | 1–6, 0–6 |
| Win | 2. | 3 September 2001 | ITF Pétange, Luxembourg | Clay | Jaslyn Hewitt | Natallia Dziamidzenka Kika Hogendoorn | 6–1, 6–3 |
| Win | 3. | 5 August 2002 | ITF Rebecq, Belgium | Clay | Jaslyn Hewitt | Leslie Butkiewicz Tessy van de Ven | 3–6, 6–3, 6–4 |
| Win | 4. | 3 November 2002 | ITF Stockholm, Sweden | Hard (i) | Marta Domachowska | Jenny Loow Suzanne van Hartingsveldt | 6–1, 6–1 |
| Loss | 5. | 21 January 2003 | ITF Hull, United Kingdom | Hard (i) | Borka Majstorović | Irina Bulykina Galina Voskoboeva | 6–4, 6–7, 3–6 |
| Win | 6. | 2 February 2003 | ITF Tipton, United Kingdom | Hard (i) | Liana Ungur | Zuzana Černá Iveta Gerlová | 6–3, 6–2 |
| Win | 7. | 18 May 2003 | ITF Casale Monferrato, Italy | Clay | Leanne Baker | Jolanda Mens Stefanie Weis | 6–3, 6–4 |
| Win | 8. | 11 August 2003 | ITF Koksijde, Belgium | Clay | Kirsten Flipkens | Zuzana Černá Vladimíra Uhlířová | 6–2, 6–4 |
| Loss | 9. | 2 March 2004 | ITF Buchen, Germany | Hard (i) | Caroline Maes | Lucie Hradecká Eva Hrdinová | 1–6, 4–6 |
| Win | 10. | 29 March 2004 | ITF Napoli, Italy | Clay | Mandy Minella | Michelle Gerards Mariëlle Hoogland | 6–1, 6–0 |