Kim Clijsters receives a wildcard for the WTA tournament in Indian Wells ($8,359,455), one of the most important tournaments on the calendar after the four Grand Slams. The organization announced this on Thursday. The hard court tournament in the California desert begins next Wednesday.

Clijsters, previously number one in the world but now without a ranking, resumed competition in Chicago this week. There she lost in the first round to Hsieh Su-wei (WTA-97) of Taiwan 6-3, 5-7 and 6-3. This was the fourth party since the return of Clijsters in February 2020. The last party was more than a year ago. At the 2020 US Open, she lost in the first round to Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova (WTA-34) 3-6, 7-5 and 6-1. She had earlier lost 6-2 and 7-6 (8/6) to Spanish Garbine Muguruza (WTA-9) in Dubai and 6-3 and 7-5 to British Johanna Konta (WTA-81) in Motere. At Indian Wells, where he won the tournament in 2003 and 2005, he is looking for his first win. His previous participation in Indian Wells dates back to 2011.

In addition to Clijsters, US Open winner Emma Radukanu (WTA-22) and former number one Andy Murray (ATP-109) also received invitations. Other wildcards went to the Americans.