Clijsters and Davydenko withdraw from French Open.
Kim Clijsters will have to wait at least another year to claim the French Open title that so narrowly eluded her in 2001 and 2003.
The US Open champion has withdrawn from the clay-court major after the foot injury she sustained playing in April’s Fed Cup tie for Belgium has failed to heal in time for Roland Garros, which begins on May 23rd.
Clijsters sustained what is described on her website as two small tears to her left foot while competing in the Fed Cup, an injury with an estimated recovery time of a few weeks.
The mum-of-one stunned the tennis world when just three tournaments into her return from more than two years out of the game she defeated both Venus Williams and Serena Williams on the way to winning the second Grand Slam title of her career at last year’s US Open.
Clijsters has twice before reached the French Open final, losing out to Jennifer Capriati in 2001 (in a marathon final that was decided 12-10 in the third set) and Belgian counterpart Justine Henin in 2003.
Another who has failed to recover from injury in time for a tilt at Roland Garros is Russia’s Nikolay Davydenko, who has not played a match since the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells during March, where he was forced to withdraw prior to his third round match due to a broken wrist.
The world No. 6 entered the first Grand Slam of 2010, the Australian Open, as the form player of men’s tennis after finishing the previous year by claiming the title at the World Tour Finals in London and defeating Rafael Nadal in the final of the Qatar ExxonMobil Open in Doha during January.
Those results meant Davydenko came to Melbourne Park without his customary cloak of anonymity, but his dream run came to an end against Roger Federer in the quarter-finals.
It was during his semi-final against Robin Soderling at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam that Davydenko first sustained the wrist injury that has now put paid to any chance he may have had – and the 28-year-old’s ability over the best of five sets in the majors has been questioned – of winning his maiden Grand Slam title at Roland Garros this year.
Davydenko is the second top-10 men’s player to be ruled out of the French Open, and will join US Open champion Juan Martin del Potro on the sidelines.
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