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| December 5, 2002 | Thursday | Ramazan 29,1423 |
Clijsters considering Australian citizenship
BRUSSELS, Dec 4: Kim Clijsters is considering becoming an Australian citizen to spare her from the clutches of the Belgian taxman, according to Belgian media reports.
“Kim has never said she wanted to become an Australian (citizen). On the contrary she has always said she was and will remain Belgian,” her father Leo Clijsters was quoted as saying by local media on Wednesday.
“But as her manager I have to look at all options. We can’t dismiss this without studying it carefully.”
Clijsters, who is ranked fourth on the WTA Tour and beat Serena Williams to clinch the prestigious Tour Championship last month, pays the taxman between 50 and 60 percent of her earnings — much less than footballers in Belgium, Leo Clijsters said.
“All I’m asking for is equality. This would make it harder for some of our best sportspeople to be based in Monaco,” he said referring to the Mediterranean tax haven.
Leo Clijsters said the Australian authorities had drawn his attention to the country’s “more advantageous tax rules” last year when Kim was thinking about buying an apartment in Adelaide.
MELBOURNE: Pete Sampras and Martina Hingis are among the entries for the Australian Open which takes place in Melbourne from Jan 23-27, organisers confirmed Wednesday.
Both players were automatically included in the official entry list as, under ATP rules, the top 100 ranked men and women are automatically entered unless they notify organisers they won’t be playing.
Sampras, who became a father for the first time last month, has not played since winning the US Open in September, his 14th grand slam title. The 31-year-old has said he will decide before the end of the year whether to continue his tennis career.
Martina Hingis also appears on the entry list despite the three- time Australian Open winner’s recent ankle surgery.
“It’s great to see that triple champion Martina has indicated that she wants to play,” said Australian Open chief executive Paul McNamee.
“Like her we’ll be keeping our fingers crossed that she’ll be fit in time for January.”—Reuters/dpa
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