Clijsters sheds a little light on Serena's injury

Defending Open champion Kim Clijsters was Serena Williams' last opponent, in an exhibition in Belgium in July, and Monday in response to a question about Williams' foot cut that forced her to withdraw from the Open, she said: "I saw the injury and it's not something that she's making up or that it's a small cut or anything."

Clijsters had prefaced that answer by saying "we did a press conference together . . . they asked her about it. I obviously saw the injury but I didn't get an explanation."

This was more information than has been provided by Serena or her sister Venus, who have refused to comment on the injury.

Tennis commentator Mary Carillo recently reported that the injury occurred while Williams was in Germany, watching a World Cup soccer game in a bar. The crowd got rowdy and a beer bottle landed on Williams' foot.

Clijsters began her title defense with a 6-0, 7-5 win over Greta Arn Monday, playing a bit of a Jekyll and Hyde match. After the bagel job in the first set, she went down 4-0 in the second before dominating the remainder of the match.

Rough year for Safina

Dinara Safina, who was No. 1 in the world entering the U.S. Open last year, is out of the tournament this year after the first round. She was beaten by No. 24 seed Daniela Hantuchova, 6-3, 6-4.

Safina played in the Open last year with a muscle tear and stress fracture of her lower back and made it to the third round by playing on painkillers. Recuperating from the injuries, she hasn't played a lot this year and it hasn't been a stellar Grand Slam season for her. She retired from the Australian Open while leading Maria Kirilenko in the first set, lost in the first round at the French and withdrew from Wimbledon. She is 59th in the world rankings.

LI juniors honored

Six Long Island juniors were among 24 players from New York, New Jersey and Connecticut who were honored by USTA Eastern Monday for their outstanding performances in tournaments this summer. They are: Brendan Volk, Dix Hills, boys 12; Morgan Herrmann, Garden City, and Madison Battaglia, Cold Spring Harbor, girls 12; Douglas Notaris, Wantagh, boys 14; Ola Mally, Franklin Square, girls 14, and Eric Rubin, Lido Beach, boys 16.