Kim Clijsters Withdraws From US Open Title Defense

Defending champion Kim Clijsters has officially announced here withdrawal from the upcoming US Open. The Belgian injured her left stomach in a retirement loss to Jie Zheng the Rogers Cup Toronto last week. The injury will prevent the four-time US Open champion from defending her 2010 title in New York.

“Unfortunately, I will not be able to defend my US Open title this year because of a stomach muscle injury (left rectus abdominus strain),” Clijsters said in a statement. “Two weeks of rehab was not enough to heal this injury. Obviously I’m very disappointed. I trained very hard this summer and felt in a good shape to play the US Open.”

“Now there is nothing else I can do than to rest and have treatment every day. If a gradual approach is not taken, I will relapse in the same injury, and therefore I have also no other possibility than to withdrawal from the tournaments in Tokyo and Beijing.”

The 28-year-old Clijsters injured her left ankle in a freak wedding accident in April which cut short her French Open preparation and forced her out of Wimbledon.

Clijsters said she is looking forward to returning to play in 2012 at the Australian Open.