Kim Clijsters announces she will retire after US Open

Kim Clijsters

Former world number one Kim Clijsters says she will retire after the US Open.

The Belgian, 28, won the tournament in 2005, 2009 and 2010 and said she felt Flushing Meadows was a fitting place to end her career.

"As it stands I will end my career at the US Open. That is where I enjoyed my greatest triumphs and it is a very special place for me," she said.

"The stadium is only about 45 minutes from our house in the United States and my parents-in-law will be present."

Clijsters, who is married to NBA basketball player Brian Lynch, initially retired in 2007 before the birth of her daughter Jada.

But she returned in 2009 and went on to win the US Open that year.

In 2011, she won the Australian Open and also topped the world rankings for the first time in five years, but she has been increasingly troubled by injury, although she reached the semi-final of this year's Australian Open, losing to eventual champion Victoria Azarenka.

This year's US Open takes place from 27 August to 9 September.