Clijsters announces WTA tour comeback

BREE, Belgium: Former world No 1 Kim Clijsters will come out of retirement to play on the tour during the US hardcourt season later this year, the Belgian said yesterday.

"I have missed playing tournaments most. I am doing it for the challenge. I have been training for 11 or 12 weeks. Training harder than ever before. Then this drive came back," Clijsters told a news conference at her hometown of Bree.

The 25-year-old retired in May 2007 before marrying basketball player Brian Lynch and giving birth to a daughter. She has been training at the tennis center in Bree, north of Brussels in recent weeks.