Though Clijsters might have helped show the way for today’s tennis-playing parents, she said Thursday that being a role model was not her primary goal.

“It was an emotion, a drive, a challenge within myself,” she said. “But I do realize I have girlfriends now who at times struggle to find ‘me time’ and find their passion and find the time to live their passion and still balance being a mum. Me too.

“I’m 36 years old. I know in four years I’m not going to be able to do this. I’ve always followed my instincts. I was very young when I retired to have my first child and came back, and to do it now I think is a challenge, and I love the challenge. I’m not afraid of it.”

While successful tennis comebacks are possible at Clijsters’s age, that does not mean they are probable. Marion Bartoli, the 2013 Wimbledon champion and another of Clijsters’s peers at age 34, announced a comeback before the 2018 season that never materialized because of the recurrence of shoulder problems.

“It just gets harder, especially not having played in so long,” Martina Navratilova said in a telephone interview on Thursday. “The biggest question mark is her movement, which is such a strong part of her game. You lose a step anyway, maybe half a step. But the strokes are there, and she certainly knows how to play the game. And you know what? I’m all for it. If she wants to put in the work, she’s got maybe four more good years before things really start going downhill.

“The measure of success for me is not if she gets top 100, top 50 or top 20. The measure of success is if she loves it and if she is doing what she wants to do.”