The fifth-ranked Belgian initially planned to return at the Oct. 30-Nov. 5 Gaz de France tournament in her home city of Hasselt. Now Clijsters may play at the Generali Ladies Linz event in Austria a week earlier.

``We will have to wait and see how my first ball contact goes,'' she said Wednesday on her website.

Clijsters, who has been wearing a wrist brace for a month, expects to start hitting in 10 days. She was injured at a hard-court tournament in Montreal in August when she fell on her surgically repaired wrist.

She was unable to defend her U.S. Open title and missed the Fed Cup final, which Belgium lost to Italy. Clijsters also missed most of the 2004 season because of her wrist.

The 23-year-old has dealt with assorted ankle, knee and back ailments as well and says her health is why she plans to retire in 2007.