BRUSSELS, Feb 9: Belgian tennis ace Kim Clijsters, who retires after this year, is considering skipping the French Open in May in order to concentrate on Wimbledon, she announced on her official website.

The former world number one has been suffering with a hip injury since the Australian Open in January and needs more time off between tournaments to be fully fit.

“I have to build in longer rest periods after each tournament, this means I will have to cancel Indian Wells as well, in order to have three weeks rest before Miami. After that again three weeks until Warsaw,” said Clijsters.

“It might very well be I’ll drop the French Open, so I can be completely fit for Eastbourne and Wimbledon.”

However, the 23-year-old Clijsters has started light training in order to be fit enough to defend her title and keep the fans happy in Antwerp next week. “I'll be training lightly again. I'll be able to train much harder at the Sportpaleis on Sunday. Right now, everything goes pretty smoothly and I'm doing all I can to be ready for my first match.”

Despite lifting 34 singles titles, the Belgian power-hitter has only one Grand Slam under her belt after a straight sets victory against Mary Pierce in the US Open in 2005.

She twice reached the French Open final, but lost on both occasions, but she has never gone beyond the semi-finals at Wimbledon. –AFP