Former world No.1 Kim Clijsters has insisted that she has no intention of retiring from the sport after being forced to delay her return to the Tour once again.
The multiple Grand Slam winner has issued a statement on Sunday in which she has formally declined wildcard invitations to play at both the Miami Open later this month followed by a clay event in Charleston. Clijsters, who first announced that she was coming out of retirement in 2019, he only played in three events over the past year. The most recent was the US Open where she lost in the first round to Ekaterina Alexandrova.
Since New York, the 37-year-old has been sidelined by knee surgery which she underwent in October. Then in January she caught COVID-19 but experienced ‘mild’ symptoms of the virus. Despite the series of setbacks Clijsters has stated that she is not giving up.
“I’ve had an intensive few weeks of training with my team,” she wrote in a statement put out on Twitter.
“Unfortunately I am not where I need to be especially if I want to compete with the best.
It’s disappointing and frustrating. I knew this was going to be hard when I started this journey – and there have been challenges that are out of my control. I’m not ready to quit… I’m going to keep pushing and see what’s possible.”
Over the coming weeks the Belgian will undergo what she describes as ‘pain management treatment’ before deciding her schedule for the year ahead. It is likely that she will return to action during the clay swing of the season in what will be a true test of her knee.
Clijsters is currently in the process of her second comeback to the Tour. She first retired from the sport in May 2007 before returning two years later. She would continue playing for another five years before calling it quits at the 2012 US Open following a lengthy battle with injuries. In 2020 she played in a total of three tournaments but lost her opening matches to Garbine Muguruza in Dubai, Johanna Konta in Monterrey and Alexandrova at the US Open.
She is one of only four active players on the WTA Tour to have four or more Grand Slam titles. The others are Serena Williams, Venus Williams and Naomi Osaka.
