Clijsters to miss Wimbledon

Written by Thomas Rooney | 16 June 2011

Kim Clijsters will be forced to miss Wimbledon after a foot injury ruled her out for the duration of the tournament.

The world number two had been one of the favourites for the tournament beforehand, but suffered a recurrence of the injury that ruled her out of the Unicef Open earlier this week.

The Belgian looked to be finding her form this year after a prolonged spell away from the sport after the birth of her daughter in 2007, and having returned in 2009, Clijsters won her 4^th grand slam tournament when she was victorious at the Australian Open earlier this year.

Speaking about her injury, Clijsters admitted she was irritated by the injury, but insisted it was the right decision.

"At this moment I feel frustrated that it has to happen now before one of my favourite tournaments," she said.

"I've always enjoyed being a part of the Wimbledon atmosphere, but I have no other choice now but to rest."

The 28-year-old has never tasted victory at SW19 before, but reached the semi-finals in 2003 and 2006 before stepping away from Tennis.

Her victory Down Under seemed to be a break-through moment for Clijsters, but having been tipped to go on and usurp Caroline Wozniacki as the world number one, was clearly struggling as she was dumped out of the French Open in the second round by little-known Arantxa Rus.

If she can recover in time to raise a challenge for the second half the season that dream may still be realised, but she will have a lot of catching up to do.