Former World No. 1, Kim Clijsters of Belgium, has announced that this year’s U.S. Open will be her last tournament.
She had previously announced that this season would be her last. Now she says she expects to quit after Flushing Meadows, where she is a three-time champion.
“In principle, I will stop after the U.S. Open. That’s the tournament where I have had my greatest triumphs and it is therefore very special to me,” she told a news conference at the headquarters of her sponsors Galaxo in Paal, Belgium.
Clijsters is skipping the entire clay-court season, recovering from a hip injury, but is still hoping to be ready for Wimbledon and the London Olympics. She said last month that she plans to return to action at the Wimbledon warm-up event in Den Bosch in mid-June before tying to win her first Wimbledon in nine tries. She has played at Wimbledon only once in the past five years, reaching the quarterfinals in 2010.
Clijsters retired from tennis in 2007 because of injuries, but returned in 2009 to win her second U.S. Open that year, and successfully defended her title the following year. She did not play in the U.S. Open in 2011.
Clijsters, who turns 29 next month, has won 41 singles and 11 doubles titles since she turned professional in 1997 and helped Belgium win a first Fed Cup title in 2001. She is currently ranked 44th.
