U.S. Open tennis wild cards -- Kim Clijsters gets one

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Among the notable women who have received wild card invitations into the U.S. Open tennis draw is Kim Clijsters. The Belgian had been ranked No. 1 in the world for a time before leaving the WTA Tour for over two years after she married former Villanova basketball star Brian Lynch and had a baby girl.

Clijsters’ single major tennis title was at the 2005 U.S. Open where she pummeled Mary Pierce, 6-3, 6-1. It seemed as if that would the first of many majors. Clijsters had lost in four Grand Slam tournament finals before breaking through against Pierce.

But some injuries (most notably a wrist) seemed to take the fun out of tennis for Clijsters who had always been one of the most gracious players on the tour and also one who always seemed to enjoy both the game and its sidelights of media demands and fan attention.

In the first tournament of her comeback last week in Cincinnati, Clijsters made it to the semifinals before losing to top-ranked Dinara Safina.

This week she got to the third round of the Toronto tournament before losing to Jelena Jankovic.

There isn’t quite the star power among the men who received U.S. Open wildcards

-- Diane Pucin

. Credit: Tom Szcerbowski / US Presswire