Clijsters on track to play French Open
By RAF CASERT, AP Sports Writer May 13, 11:09 am EDT
BRUSSELS (AP)—Kim Clijsters is recovering well from shoulder, wrist and ankle
injuries and is on schedule to play in the French Open, which starts May 22.
“There are no signs anything is going bad,” her spokesman, Gert Van Goolen
said Friday.
Kim Clijsters , of Belgium, looks reacts after she lost a game to Victoria
Azarenka , from Belarus, at the Sony Ericsson Open tennis tournament
in Key Biscayne, Fla., Wednesday, March 30, 2011. Azarenka won 6-3 and 6-3.
Clijsters is a two-time runner-up at the French Open and slow clay is
generally considered her weakest surface. Up to last week, she had been
considered doubtful to compete in Paris.
She had been sidelined since early last month and resumed on-court training
only last week. The Belgian hopes to make a definitive decision early
next week.
“After this weekend she has to be sure whether to focus all on Paris and
leave (to go) there, or decide whether to stay home,” Van Goolen said
by phone.
Clijsters, the reigning U.S. and Australian Open champion, is ranked No. 2
behind Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark.
During a busy early spring schedule, she overexerted her right shoulder and
wrist and withdrew from the tour last month. Then she compounded her
problems when she also injured her right ankle while wearing high heels at
her cousin’s wedding.
She pulled out of the ongoing Italian Open in Rome and has no plans for a
warmup tournament before the French Open. However, after a tentative first
training outing last week, she has felt stronger during subsequent sessions.
If she skips the French Open, Clijsters would immediately start preparing
for grass courts and play at the Unicef Open in the Netherlands, which
begins June 12.