The most likeable female tennis player, Kim Clijsters, decided Wimbledon to be the last Grand Slam of her career. This means that she won't play at the U.S. Open, which she won in 2005.

However, the former No.1 decided to play both singles and doubles at Wimbledon; "That way, I would be able to stay a bit longer at my last Grand Slam tournament," she announced on her website.

Clijsters has already withdrawn from the French Open, because she will be preparing for her wedding at that time. The 23-year-old Belgian will get married to Brian Lynch, American basketball player, on July 14, in her hometown of Bree.

Clijsters has had many problems with injuries during her career, and at the moment she is still recovering from a sore back which forced her to leave the Sony Ericsson Open early. Clijsters' next tournament is J&S Cup in Warsaw which starts on April 30, where she is the defending champion. "I'm not fully there yet, but I want to get used to clay again," world No.4 said.

Kim Clijsters will retire after the tournament in Stuttgart which starts on October 1. She wants to become a housewife who will support her husband and his career.

(sources: ESPN, BBC Sport)

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Only three women from the top ten will take part in the first round of the Fed Cup — Svetlana Kuznetsova, Nadia Petrova and Anna Chakvetadze; they are all representatives of Russia.

Why won't the other highly ranked players compete in the Fed Cup?

• Top-ranked Justine Henin of Belgium wants to have enough time to prepare for the clay-season, as well as to treat her breathing problems. Her next tournament will be Warsaw, starting April 30.
• Maria Sharapova, Russia's highest-ranked player, won't make her Fed Cup debut because of injured shoulder and hamstring.
• France's Amelie Mauresmo is recovering from her appendectomy.
• Kim Clijsters, another Belgian top player, decided to skip the Fed Cup because of her busy schedule.
• Countries of Martina Hingis (Switzerland), Nicole Vaidisova (the Czech Republic) and Jelena Jankovic (Serbia) are not in the World Group.

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Svetlana Kuznetsova's poor play in Miami cost her to go down two spots in WTA Tour Singles Rankings (from 3rd to 5th). Two players own her a favor for their higher ranking - Amelie Mauresmo returns to the top three, while Kim Clijsters jumps to the 4th place. Russia still has a representative in the 10th place, but this time a different one - Anna Chakvetadze replaced Elena Dementieva. There's one person who seems to have an enormous determination to return to the prestigious top ten and that is Serena Williams. This week she has jumped from number 18 to number 11.

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