Paris: Kim Clijsters is the reigning US Open champion and ranked No 2.
She is still winning matches in under an hour, and is all of 22 years old. Yet she still plans to quit after next season.
The Belgian confirmed on Friday at the French Open what she announced last year - that she intends to retire in 2007 because of the serious nature of the injuries she'd endured, including a bad left wrist that kept her off the court for most of 2004, and assorted ankle, knee and back problems, too.
"My main decision is just that I want to still be able to be healthy when I'm older," Clijsters said after a 6-0, 6-3 victory over Conchita Martinez Granados in the second round at Roland Garros that took only 55 minutes.
"I don't want to be having injuries that cause me to not be able to do all the things that I want to do when I stop playing tennis," she added.
"That's why I felt that in the last year and a half, my injuries have been restricting me from the game of tennis that I want to play and the level that I used to play."
Clijsters was 0-4 in major finals before winning at Flushing Meadows in September. She was runner-up at the French Open in 2001 and 2003.
This year, Clijsters won her 31st career title at Warsaw, Poland on clay, and reached the finals at her home country tournament in Antwerp, and the semi-finals at the Australian Open.
But the Belgian insists that she never goes on the court feeling entirely physically fit.
"I have to say, I don't think I've played a week the last year or so being 100 per cent physically," Clijsters said.
"When I was 15, 16, I played singles, doubles every tournament. If I had to do that now, you could take me to the hospital."
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