ID :
158169
Wed, 01/26/2011 - 12:00
Auther :
Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/158169
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Leg injury undermines Clijster's campaign
A nagging leg injury is undermining Kim Clijsters' Australian Open quest, with the raging title favourite requiring pain-killers to reach the semi-finals on Wednesday.
Clijsters initially played down the injury - which the Belgian first suffered in the fourth round against Ekaterina Makarova - after outclassing Polish 12th seed Agnieszka Radwanska 6-3 7-6 (7-4) in a scratchy quarter-final performance at Melbourne Park.
But the third seed later conceded the partial tear of her left adductor muscle was bothering her more than she originally let on and that it was a concern heading into her semi-final showdown on Thursday with world No.2 Vera Zvonareva.
"I took some pain-killers and anti-inflammatories before the match, but I still felt a little pain with the muscle," Clijsters told Belgian journalists.
"When I land with my serve and even move or land on my left leg, it pains my muscle.
"I had a good warm-up and did some extra exercises, but in the match it's always a little more intense and you go a little bit further than you wish.
"I didn't have any pain, but it has an influence on my game.
"So tomorrow I don't want to have this in my mind."
Clijsters had a similar injury before last year's US Open, but had five days' rest, enabling the tennis supermum to recover in time to successfully defend her title in New York.
The 27-year-old wore an uncomfortable double layer of strapping to protect the injury on Wednesday.
"The strapping is not something I'm used to," Clijsters said.
"Under the white strapping, I had a cross strapping to keep the muscle together and it gave some tighter feeling - kind of pinched my leg together.
"You forget about the tape when you're in the match, but tomorrow I'm going to talk to Sam my physio and test the muscle and at the very last minute I will decide to go with or without the strapping."
Clijsters - who beat Zvonareva in the Flushing Meadows final before losing to the Russian at the season-ending championships in Doha - knows she will have to raise her game to make Saturday's night's championship match against world No.1 Caroline Wozniacki or ninth seed Li Na.
"Everything has to be better," the three-times US Open champion said. "Serving, returning, the unforced errors.
"But I'm in the semi-finals and I don't feel like I've played my best tennis probably. So it's a good thing.
"I feel that I'm hanging in there, working hard to win my points. Sometimes that's probably even more of an achievement than winning your matches very easily."
Clijsters initially played down the injury - which the Belgian first suffered in the fourth round against Ekaterina Makarova - after outclassing Polish 12th seed Agnieszka Radwanska 6-3 7-6 (7-4) in a scratchy quarter-final performance at Melbourne Park.
But the third seed later conceded the partial tear of her left adductor muscle was bothering her more than she originally let on and that it was a concern heading into her semi-final showdown on Thursday with world No.2 Vera Zvonareva.
"I took some pain-killers and anti-inflammatories before the match, but I still felt a little pain with the muscle," Clijsters told Belgian journalists.
"When I land with my serve and even move or land on my left leg, it pains my muscle.
"I had a good warm-up and did some extra exercises, but in the match it's always a little more intense and you go a little bit further than you wish.
"I didn't have any pain, but it has an influence on my game.
"So tomorrow I don't want to have this in my mind."
Clijsters had a similar injury before last year's US Open, but had five days' rest, enabling the tennis supermum to recover in time to successfully defend her title in New York.
The 27-year-old wore an uncomfortable double layer of strapping to protect the injury on Wednesday.
"The strapping is not something I'm used to," Clijsters said.
"Under the white strapping, I had a cross strapping to keep the muscle together and it gave some tighter feeling - kind of pinched my leg together.
"You forget about the tape when you're in the match, but tomorrow I'm going to talk to Sam my physio and test the muscle and at the very last minute I will decide to go with or without the strapping."
Clijsters - who beat Zvonareva in the Flushing Meadows final before losing to the Russian at the season-ending championships in Doha - knows she will have to raise her game to make Saturday's night's championship match against world No.1 Caroline Wozniacki or ninth seed Li Na.
"Everything has to be better," the three-times US Open champion said. "Serving, returning, the unforced errors.
"But I'm in the semi-finals and I don't feel like I've played my best tennis probably. So it's a good thing.
"I feel that I'm hanging in there, working hard to win my points. Sometimes that's probably even more of an achievement than winning your matches very easily."
