The world number two told a news conference that while the injury had already shown signs of improvement, it was likely to trouble her throughout the rest of her career.

"I had some other doctors look at the scans and they're all very positive so that's the good news," she said.

"But it's something I have to keep in mind for the future, it's something that's not going to go away. I might have to have some surgery or something."

Clijsters said her ankle would need protective strapping every time she played to prevent any further damage but she was taking a philosophical approach.

"I'll have to play with tape, that's something I'll probably have to do for the rest of my career," she said.

"Especially when I do the splits, these are movements that are going to make it flare up a lot quicker.

"I think any sports person is going to go through things in their career. You just have to stay positive.

"It changes your preparation, you're more into doing rehabilitation exercises than sort of preparing for your game. You've got to focus more on your body and not just on your tennis."

Clijsters was on crutches for the first few days after bruising her foot playing for Belgium in the Hopman Cup but was hoping to make her comeback at this week's Sydney international before heading to Melbourne for the Australian Open.

LIGHT RUNNING

She said she had begun some light running on the treadmill and would hit the practice courts to test herself before her first match in Sydney, against either Myriam Casanova or Anna Smashnova-Pistolesi.

As the defending champion and tournament's second seed, Clijsters has been given a first round bye and will probably not start playing until Wednesday.

"It's definitely not the best preparation for the Australian Open but in a way I also want to have a match here so that I don't go into the Australian Open without having played a match for a week and a half," she said.

"I'm not the kind of player who's here for little things. I want to give it a go and I want to try as hard as I can to get better.

"It's not going to get any worse especially if I play with the tape."