When Montreal tennis fans last saw Kim Clijsters, she was leaving Uniprix Stadium in tears.
The Belgian was the defending Rogers Cup champion as she faced Laval's Stéphanie Dubois on the stadium court in 2006. She took the first set 6-1 and was on her way to victory when, in trying to break a fall, she landed on an already injured left wrist.
Devastated, Clijsters had to retire from the match, and couldn't defend her title at the U.S. Open in New York two weeks later. Nine months after that, she was retired.
Clijsters, whose comeback began last summer and already includes another U.S. Open title and a return to the WTA Tour's top 10, returns to Montreal this summer to an event she absolutely raved about in a conference call yesterday.
This time, she'll arrive with an entourage: husband Brian Lynch, daughter Jada and - hopefully - better luck this time around.
There's no guarantee. The women's Tour has again been plagued by injuries this season. Yesterday alone, three players retired during matches at the big tournament in Madrid and many of the other top players, not 100 per cent, lost early (including Clijsters's compatriot, Justine Henin).
Clijsters has been out several weeks with a torn ligament on the bottom of her foot, a freak injury suffered during a Fed Cup match against Estonia the last weekend of April.
"I hit an open-stance backhand - not even a wide shot - and pushed off back to the middle. As I pushed off, I felt this crack in my foot. It really scared me, a sharp pain really shooting down from my big toe to my heel," she said. "In the beginning, you think maybe a bone went to the wrong place and it'll get adjusted. But the pain slowly got worse. The first three or four days afterward I couldn't walk properly, and had a lot of edema in there, and inflammation. ... Really weird." She took yesterday's conference call from her physiotherapist's office after undergoing treatment. She has yet to hit a tennis ball since the injury; her participation in her first French Open since her 18-month retirement ended is in jeopardy.
"If I had to decide today, I would say, 'No, I can't play.' I still have two weeks, but I'm not going to wait until the day before," Clijsters said. "I will give it another week, but a lot will depend on a (scan and ultrasound) on Friday, to see how it's reacted.
"If I'm still in pain. I'm not going," she added. "I don't want to risk re-doing the injury and then being out another six or seven weeks." Clijsters said she hopes the injury won't keep her out too long, and that her preparation for the North American summer hard-court season that includes the Rogers Cup, and culminates with the U.S. Open (where she will again be defending her title), won't be compromised.
She played the Rogers Cup in Toronto last summer in only her second tournament back from retirement, and beat No. 9 Victoria Azarenka before losing 7-5 in the third set to No. 4 Jelena Jankovic. That came on the heels of a highly successful return in Cincinnati the previous week, when she upset three top-20 players before losing to then-No. 1 Dinara Safina of Russia.
Clijsters's luck hasn't been nearly as good in Montreal. Beyond the injury in 2006, her only other appearance here came in 2002, when she was the No. 4 seed but was upset by the now-retired Barbara Schett of Austria, then ranked No. 35.
Hopefully, her stay will be a little longer this time around.
"Going back to a tournament where you've had such good results and feel really comfortable is always a pleasure, especially in my situation now travelling with our daughter," Clijsters said. "We get to travel to places in big cities, but a lot of times big tournaments can become impersonal and cold. In Montreal, even when I didn't have my family, you really feel very warm and welcome, and that's something I really liked.
"Everything is very personal, even though it's such a big event. It makes it very easy, and I just really look forward to going." smyles@thegazette.canwest.com
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