MEDIBANK INTERNATIONAL

January 11, 2006

Kim Clijsters

KIM CLIJSTERS: I don't know what the injury is yet. I need to have more tests done tomorrow. I hurt it warming up. I was hitting for about 20 minutes, just my ground strokes, and I was feeling fine. Then all of a sudden I just started to do serves, and as soon as I served I just felt really, really sharp pains. I don't know, like my groin or my hip. It got worse. Ever since then it's gotten worse and worse. I could hardly walk up the stairs. I'm wearing like a pretty like tight tape now and it's still bothering me a lot. So it's hard to say. It feels like it's really deep inside, so it's hard to say. You know, they can't look on the inside of my leg, so I'll probably have an MRI and an echo or a scan tomorrow.

KIM CLIJSTERS: My back has been bothering me the last few days, so I don't know if that has something to do with it. Maybe compensating for my back, you know, maybe pushing. I don't know. I think I'll be able to tell you guys more tomorrow.

KIM CLIJSTERS: Yep, the first one, yeah.

KIM CLIJSTERS: It's shit. It's terrible. Like today I felt like I was, in practice, sort of the first one that I felt like I was hitting the ball well, I was seeing the ball well. Then, yeah, with that serve I couldn't follow through. Really sharp pain. I tried to just stretch it out a little bit, you know, do some like movements to loosen it up, my hip better or my back. From then on it just got worse and worse. So it's, yeah, it's not good.

KIM CLIJSTERS: Yeah, sort of -- yeah, it started after the flight from Hong Kong, you know, so...

KIM CLIJSTERS: Well, that's what I'm saying, I'll probably know more about that tomorrow. I don't know. I don't know what it is, so it's hard to set a date or, you know, a time on it, yeah.

KIM CLIJSTERS: Well, that's because I couldn't make it any worse. The tape actually helped for my ankle then. I don't know what the diagnosis is yet, so it's very hard to answer those questions.

KIM CLIJSTERS: Yeah, I'll go here. First thing in the morning I'll go.

KIM CLIJSTERS: That's something I don't want to think of yet, no.

KIM CLIJSTERS: Well, I think a lot of players, I think it's just -- that's how I felt, too. Like after LA, in LA I was just really, really like tired and exhausted. I never really felt like I had enough time to recover and to start training again in December. So I think this was sort of the first time after last season that I felt like I needed a longer break so maybe that's, yeah, I don't know, part of it. You know, you try to rest and recover as well, but then you also want to start training because you know you need to train, especially here in Australia. You need to be there, ready to go. So it's hard, you know, when you only have a short period of time to get ready.

KIM CLIJSTERS: I mean, those are things that don't have to do with my injury, so you're probably better talking with, I don't know, WTA, ATP and tournament directors. I mean, that's not really up to me to say much about now. I mean, it's not important for me now.

KIM CLIJSTERS: I've had some hip problems last year. On the clay court I hurt my knee, and then my hip was bothering me a lot as well. I don't know. Just getting old, I guess (smiling).

KIM CLIJSTERS: Yeah, I mean, I have a doctor who is here with me; he's a friend of mine. He came out here. He's been a great help. And my cousin, too. So, you know, it's very hard to call people in Belgium because, you know, they obviously need to check it out. I'm sure they have really good doctors here as well, so I'm sure I'm in good hands here.