Clijsters determined to press on with comeback
The French Open had originally been due to start on Sunday, but the new coronavirus crisis forced organisers to postpone it to Sept. 20, one week after the scheduled final of the US Open, leading to criticism within the tennis world
French Open director Guy Forget said he was working hand in hand with tennis authorities to make sure the dates of the claycourt Grand Slam tournament and those of the US Open do not clash, adding that Flushing Meadows would make an announcement next month.
The French Open had originally been due to start on Sunday, but the new coronavirus crisis forced organisers to postpone the start to Sept. 20, one week after the scheduled final of the US Open, leading to criticism within the tennis world.
Earlier this month, the French tennis federation said it was in talks with the ATP, WTA and the International Tennis Federation (ITF) over a revised calendar for the season.
“The official announcement has not been made yet. It ( the French Open) will probably be between the end of September and the beginning of October. We’ve been working closely with the ATP, the WTA and the ITF to make a global announcement on what the circuit will be like until the end of the year,” Forget told French radio Europe 1 on Saturday.
“There are so many question marks. The city of New York is more affected by the coronavirus than France. They also have a lot of organisation problems, they will make an announcement mid- june to say how it’s going to be like for the U.S. Open.”
Meanwhile, Forget is confident the French Open will be played in good conditions.
“We’ll see how the situation is in a couple of months. We will adapt to what the government will say. We have to be ambitious and optimistic,” he said.
France has banned events involving 5,000 or more people until the end of August.
CLIJSTERS DETERMINED
Meanwhile, Kim Clijsters is looking forward to returning to the US Open even though the coronavirus pandemic means that since her second comeback from retirement she has spent more time with her family.
“I’m still motivated,” the four-time Grand Slam winner told a Belgium newspaper on Sunday.
“I hope we can still play this season. But even if we don’t, I intend to keep going,” the Belgian tennis star, who turns 37 in June, told Het Laatse Nieuws (HLN).
Clijsters had spells at number one before and after her first retirement, from 2007-2009. She had her daughter in 2008. She won the US Open before that break and the Australian Open and two more US titles when she came back.
She retired for a second time after the US Open in 2012. She has since had two sons.
“I always felt I was fulfilled,” Clijsters said in an earlier interview with the tennis Hall of Fame. “After I had our third baby, Blake, I started travelling to tournaments. I did commentary.
“But I still felt more like a player. A little itch started.”
Returning to the tour poses a challenge for a mother of three.
“I’m away a little bit, which turned out to be not so much in the last few months,” she said.
She began her second comeback in February in Dubai, where she lost to Garbine Muguruza in the first round. She then lost to Johanna Konta in her opening match in Monterrey, the last tournament before the women’s tour shut down at the start of March.
She was in the United States when the tournament in Indian Wells, where she planned to play singles and partner Venus Williams in the doubles, was cancelled. The family stayed at their home in New Jersey, where they don’t have a tennis court and the public courts soon shut.
“We made a court with kitchen chairs,” she said. Clijsters and her husband Brian Lynch, a basketball coach, completed Andy Murray’s 100 volleys couples challenge.
“In the first few weeks when you’re in quarantine and all these challenges pop up...you’re trying everything,” she said. “After a few weeks it’s ‘another challenge? I’m done!’”