Injured Clijsters retires in Toronto

 

Originally published on: 10/08/11 10:29

Kim Clijsters’ injury-affected season took another turn for the worse after the Belgian was forced to retire from the Rogers Cup with a torn stomach muscle.

The 28-year-old was a set to the good against Zheng Jie when she had to pull out in Toronto and later revealed she had felt pain in her stomach during the warm up.

“During the match it just felt like it went worse,” said Clijsters. “I already had an ultrasound here on site and I have a partial tear in my left stomach muscle and a little bit of blood.”

The injury is the latest in a string of physical ailments for the world No.2, having injured her right ankle at a cousin’s wedding in April before withdrawing from tournaments in Rome and Madrid with shoulder and wrist injuries and missing Wimbledon with a foot injury picked up in ‘s-Hertogenbosch.

Now facing a race against time to be fit for her challenge for a third straight US Open crown, Clijsters said: “I still have a few weeks until then so will try to do everything to obviously be ready.”

Meanwhile, Serena Williams, who was forced to miss her challenge for a fourth US Open crown last year after a lengthy spell on the sidelines with illness and injury, is confident she will be in peak condition in New York.

“I would hate to be Grand Slam-ready right now, seeing as how the US Open is not right now, so I’ll try to peak at the right time,” said the 29-year-old after demolishing Alona Bondarenko 6-0 6-3 in Toronto. Despite her convincing win, Williams added:

“I want to get better on a few things. I definitely want to try and continue to do more and play harder. I am so happy to be back and every match is so fun for me. I just really enjoy it.”

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