Kim Clijsters finds herself in good company as a star who has come to the conclusion that retirement is not for her.

The 25-year-old stepped away from the sport in May 2007 to start a family but will make her comeback to the WTA Tour at a tournament in Cincinnati in August.

"I am looking at this as a second career, not as a comeback as I am now in a situation where not everything revolves around tennis 24 hours a day," said Clijsters.

Clijsters' fellow Belgian and former rankings rival Justine Henin appears much happier with her decision to quit on top, as she prepares to embark on a new career as a television presenter.

But Clijsters is merely following in a long line of top players who have changed their minds, most notoriously Bjorn Borg, who retired age 26 and made an ill-fated comeback 15 years later.

Equipping himself with a wooden racket, Borg was ultimately embarrassed by the extent to which the game had evolved in his absence, and in two years of wild cards and qualifying attempts, he did not win a single match.

Later, explaining his attempted return, Borg shed light on the difficulties faced by many top tennis players once they have retired from the sport.

"It was difficult after I retired," Borg said. "I had been concentrating on tennis all my life then suddenly I had to start learning about other things.

"That was not always easy as people always judged your tennis against everything else in life. They would say, 'Look, he's not as successful as he was as a tennis player'. It was hard."

Other tennis comebacks have been notably more successful, and if Clijsters were to take note of the extraordinary career of Martina Navratilova she may consider her best days are yet to come.

Navratilova retired from singles competition shortly after her 1992 Wimbledon final loss to Conchita Martinez but returned eight years later with a first-round win at Eastbourne over Tatiana Panova.

Continuing to enjoy Grand Slam success in doubles, Navratilova played her last singles match at Wimbledon in 2004. At the age of 47, she won her first-round tie before losing in round two to Argentina's Gisela Dulko.

Martina Hingis also enjoyed significant success upon her return from a three-year absence in 2006. The Swiss five-time Grand Slam champion had originally retired in 2002 due to injuries.

"I was never happy that injuries cut my career short and ultimately forced my decision to step away from tennis," Hingis said upon her return. "I have enjoyed my time away from the sport but I miss the game and the challenge."

Despite fears her more delicate game would be no match for the new generation of big-hitting stars led by the Williams sisters, Hingis climbed back up to number six in the world rankings and won three singles titles.

Like Clijsters, three-time Grand Slam champion Lindsay Davenport embarked on a comeback after the birth of her first child.

"I looked at it as a challenge," she said. "The challenge for me is in balancing everything."

Davenport won three titles and had announced that she would extend her comeback by playing the 2009 Australian Open.

However she retired, apparently for good, after revealing she was pregnant with her second child.