Clijsters will skip Paris next week
Brussels, Belgium - Former world No. 1 Kim Clijsters will miss next week’s Open Gaz de France tennis event due to a hip injury.The Belgian Clijsters said she wants to be healthy for the February Diamond Games in Antwerp, which will mark her last WTA appearance on home soil. The 23-year-old is retiring from tennis at the end of this season.’Unfortunately I will have to give the tournament in Paris a bye,’ Clijsters said on her Web site. ‘Otherwise I would endanger my participation in Antwerp, and that is something which I want to avoid at all
cost.’The currently fourth-ranked and former U.S. Open champion Clijsters lost to newly-crowned world No. 1 Maria Sharapova in last week’s Australian Open semifinals.The Paris tournament commences Monday at Stade Pierre de Coubertin.© 2007 The Sports Network