At the age of only 23, Kim Clijsters has announced that she is retiring immediately, despite saying recently that she intended to play Wimbledon one last time. She obviously has the talent to win many more tournaments, so this raises the question of whether she is retiring too soon.

Clijsters is not the only sporting star who has retired recently while still being at the top of their game. Australian swimmer Ian Thorpe retired this year at the age of 24, while still having the potential to clean up at next year's Beijing Olympics. However Thorpe, like Clijsters, cited wanting to experience other things outside the realm of the sporting arena as his main reason for his early retirement. After spending most of his life getting up early in the morning and swimming lap after lap, staring down at a back line, who could blame him.

The same can be said for tennis players, who spend days on end hitting balls over a net, perfecting their strokes, to reach their dream of winning a Grand Slam. Kim Cjisters achieved this dream in 2005, with her first and only Grand Slam, the US Open.

Above anything else, Clijsters is popular no matter where she goes. Her glowing smile and friendliness has always drawn her admirers, but it has also led many to say she lacked the killer instinct and the mean attitude needed to win more slams. But this hasn't phased Clijsters. She has continually played hard and tough whilst still maintaining a fair and pleasant attitude towards her opponents.

After devoting most of her life to the game she loves, Clijster will begin the next phase in her life, one which she has openly said she is looking forward to. Most of us find household chores awful but not for Kim, she is looking forward to staying home and looking after her family after years of living out of a suitcase.

Many may criticise Clijsters' decision to retire right now, but an injury-plagued career added to a desire to start a family are good enough reasons for her to hang up the racket, in my opinion. So often we see sport stars stay too long in their field, staying on for the money or to write their names into records books, leaving us with memories of them struggling in the latter stages of their careers.