U.S. Open: Kim Clijsters talks title and Serena Williams

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Defending U.S. Open champion Kim Clijsters won her opening-round match Monday, 6-0, 7-5, over Greta Arn of Hungary. The match was not without peril for Clijsters -- she trailed 4-0 in the second set before slapping herself on the thigh, settling down and placing her groundstrokes deeper into the court and with more creativity.

‘I wasn’t aggressive enough,’ Clijsters said. ‘I think she started going for a little bit more, playing a little bit more with some risks and she kind of put me under pressure a little bit where it should have been the other way around.’
And the Belgian added a little mystery to the Serena Williams foot injury. Top-ranked Williams is missing the Open because of a cut foot. At least that’s all that’s been said, that Serena has a single cut foot. The injury was suffered in a German restaurant sometime shortly after Wimbledon and involved broken glass. After suffering the injury, Williams, a last-minute replacement for Justine Henin, who injured herself at Wimbledon, played an exhibition against Clijsters in Belgium.

Clijsters said she saw the injury. Clijsters was asked if the injury was on the top or bottom of Serena’s foot and Clijsters said, ‘Both, both feet.’

She was asked, ‘On both feet?’ and Clijsters said, ‘Yeah.’

So the mystery deepens. Williams has been occasionally seen wearing a walking boot on her right foot and hadn’t indicated her left foot was involved.

-- Diane Pucin in New York