Kim Clijsters says she wishes there were more top players at the BNP Paribas Fortis Diamond Games in Antwerp, Belgium, of which she is tournament director, but that there are plenty of good competitors in the field. The tournament shut down in 2008 but returned this year on the WTA tour, where it is a Premier-level tournament.
"I just discussed this with somebody at the WTA—the cut-off of our entry list is [No.] 60. In layman's terms, the world's number 60 is the lowest-ranked player to be directly qualified for the main draw,” the former No. 1 said. “With 28 girls in the main draw that means that out of the 60 best players in the world, half will compete at the BNP Paribas Fortis Diamond Games. OK, we're missing Serena Williams, but that's a Fed Cup issue. [Serena] is taking on Argentina with the American team to secure her place at the Olympic Games. No worries, I'm very happy with the players who do come to Antwerp this week.”
World No. 7 Eugenie Bouchard is the top seed in Antwerp, followed by Angelique Kerber, Andrea Petkovic, and Lucie Safarova.