Maybe it was a little bit of both.

“Just the way [Jada] was looking at herself up on the screen,” Clijsters said after she defeated Caroline Wozniaski in straight sets, 7-5, 6-3 to win her second US Open title. “[Husband] Brian [Lynch] and I were just talking to her and like laughing, with, yeah, the way that she was handling it all.

“Brian and I were, you know, a lot more nervous than she was. She just thought it was the most normal thing, I guess. So, no, it was nice to share that with my family, that moment, yeah.”

With just two tournaments under her belt, Clijsters comeback is complete with the US Open championship. Even without that much practice, she mowed down her competition throughout the two weeks and came back to a sport she enjoyed.

And that’s the same sport she put behind herself two and a half years ago. In fact when Jada was born a year and a half ago, she would never of even thought of coming back to the courts and would have hung up on anyone who suggested it.

“I would have gone click,” she said simulating hanging up the phone. “Not until the start of this year, that’s when it came back. So 18 months ago or 18 and a half months ago, tennis wasn’t even on my mind at all, you know. I was just a new mom and just going through those experiences, as well, which is a lot of fun.

“But, you know, yeah, no, I would have definitely hung the phone on you. Sorry.”

Clijsters is trying to prove something to working mothers everywhere. You can have a career and at the same time enjoy your family. Although it would make sense for her to keep it going, the Open Champion is going to take it easy and pick and choose her tournament.

The next will be in Luxembourg in October and then she will think about when she will play next, although the Australian Open is on the calendar. By picking and choosing she will stay fresh and at the same time she will pretty much be the stealth contestant on each of these tournaments, because she won’t accumulate points to move up in the rankings.

But all of that doesn’t matter to Clijsters. She’s a mother now and for her family comes first.

“I don’t know how I’m going to top this, but it’s a challenge, you know,” she said. “It’s a challenge now at each tournament you play to try to show your best tennis and to stay in good shape, obviously. It’s something that I’m going to be, you know, really focusing on is to try to pick, you know, think wisely about my schedule and pick my tournaments and just try to really whatever I play and whenever I play, just really try to, you know, peak at certain situations.

“And, yeah, so I think it’s something that, you know, now with my coach, my physio and everybody, that’s something that we’re just going to keep focusing on, is making sure that, you know, I still work hard and everything.

“But also, they also know how important it is to have that family life at the same time. So I’m not, you know, playing next week or anything. I just want to go home and relax for a little bit.”
And she will enjoy herself. The beaming look on her face tells the whole story. Clijsters wasn’t just able to just win, but she also had Jada there to enjoy the moment.

And now for the bad: This is the second year in a row, she became a tourist after the first round.

Much like last year the 21 year-old former No. 1 took a one day exit at the US Open, this time losing to 52 ranked Kateryna Bondarenko in three sets, 6-2, 3-6, 6-7 (7).

“I created a lot of chances for myself,” Ivanovic said. “I’m really disappointed that I made a few mistakes in the important moments and my forehand let me down on a few occasions and obviously it hurts.

And it hurts her in the rankings as well. Last year, she was the No. 1 seed and in 2009 she fell to spots to No. 11. This Open is the cumulation of a bad year for the Serbian who just really couldn’t put it all together.

“I think it’s been, you know, as much as it hurts and was disappointing, you know, times so far, I feel I learned a lot from it,” she said. “I learned a lot about myself and you know, people around me and about what I have to do and in order to become a better player, because there was a point that, you know, I really trusted the team around me, so I didn’t question many things that were happening.

“Many times, you know, I didn’t know why I was doing certain things. So now we have, with the changes that happened, I’m more aware of certain things and more aware of the things that helped me get better. That’s obviously really good things.

“Now I know for myself what’s going to help me to improve, and you know, what kind of work it’s going to help me, rather than just rely 100% on a coach, because many times they can’t feel – all the time they can’t feel what I feel. That’s one thing that I feel I learned in last month or two.”

This time she lost top Bondarenko, who was nursing a “strained muscle” in her upper left leg, which she injured playing in Toronto. “She was wearing a wrap all game and it looked like it was aggravated by the end the match.

“It started to hurt more,” Bondarenko said. “Before the match it was okay but by the end it was more.”

Ironically as the match went on Ivanovic was the one that faltered. She won the first set 6-2, but then dropped the second 6-3. The Serbian was able to come back being down in the third to force a tie breaker, but could not withstand the Ukrainian’s will and determination.

“You know, 6-5 in the third and deuce I believe and I played great and set myself up and made the mistake, in the net every time,” said Ivanovic who is now 24-13 this year. “It’s a little frustrating. And then on match point, maybe it was wrong shot. Also, a few times I think I made a wrong shot selection, as well.

“Just also a little bit to do with confidence, just some of the shots I think weren’t the right shots but were not really coming. That was really frustrating.”

Now she will have some time to think about it and maybe take in the sights and sounds of New York. And don’t worry, after last year, Ivanovic knows the good places.

But Redding is a realist and knows returning to this club after his one year, $2.25 million contract expires after this season is suspect at best, so the next six or so starts are a tryout, not just for the Mets, but the rest of baseball as well.

“I don’t want to say this season is cashed in, but a lot of guys will get an opportunity to see if they get brought back,” said Redding who is now 1-6 with a 6.10 ERA on the season. “I would love to be back where I can play with the team that’s 100 percent healthy for all 162.

“But that remains to be seen and if these next six weeks are an audition so be it. I am just going out there trying to do what I did tonight and however long it lasts.”

The great performance tonight doesn’t exonerate Redding for his poor pitching up to this point. In fact, other than Bernie Madoff, no one has stolen more money this season than this tomato can.

For most of the year, he has been a batting practice pitcher, putting the ball down the middle of the plate and then turning his head as it screamed out of Citi Field. He pitched flat, with no sign of improving until the Mets moved in to the bullpen after his 5-run, 2.1 inning performance against Pittsburgh back on July 2nd.

But the ‘pen did something to the 31 year-old. Instead of continuing on down the road to oblivion, Redding improved because of he was able to get ready to pitch a lot quicker.

“Sometimes as a starter you try to be too fine too early,” he said. “What the bullpen allowed me to do is get ready quickly and not worry about it. Sometimes I gave up runs where I pitched well and there were times I gave up runs when the ball was right down the middle on a tee.

“But I found out I have four pitches to throw and I have all four. The situation I was in was for one inning and now that I am back as a starter wherever I might be, I have the confidence that I can throw four pitches as a starter.”

It remains to be seen if this fringe pitcher is in the Mets plans for next year. In fact, the Redding decision is down on the list. After all, they have to make a decision on the general manager, manager, catcher, first baseman, setup man and even Gary Sheffield before the Mets figure out what to do about their barely hanging on fifth starter, who was a Fernando Nieve injury reprieve away from being released.

Yet, for one night, Redding pitched up to his contract and if he can do it over his next six or so starts, he may figure his way back in the Mets plans.

If not, maybe another team will take him.

And Redding, being a smart man, know this.

Speaking to ESPN’s Peter Gammons from his home in Miami, A-Rod said called himself “young and stupid” and admitted he used from 2001-03.

“When I arrived in Texas in 2001, I felt an enormous amount of pressure,” he said. “I felt like I had all the weight of the world on top of me, and I needed to perform, and perform at a high level every day.

“Back then it was a different culture. It was very loose. I was young. I was stupid. I was naive, and I wanted to prove to everyone that I was worth being one of the greatest players of all time.

“And I did take a banned substance. For that, I’m very sorry and deeply regretful. And although it was the culture back then, and Major League Baseball overall was very . . . I just feel that, um . . . I’m just sorry. I’m sorry for that time, I’m sorry to my fans, I’m sorry for my friends in Texas. It wasn’t until then that I ever thought about substance of any kind, and since then I’ve proved to myself and to everyone that I don’t need any of that.”

He also said he didn’t know what he was taking at the time. “It was such a loosey-goosey era that I’m guilty for a lot of things,” he said. “I’m guilty for being negligent, guilty for being naive, not asking all the right questions. And to be quite honest I don’t know exactly what substance I was guilty of using.”

It’s not know how this act of contrition will help his now tarnished legacy, but this is a first step in the right direction.