Alisa Kleybanova (RUS), 22
Everything about the likeable Kleybanova is secondary today, as the Tennis Channel has a brief news flash this morning that the Russian has Stage 2 Hodgkin’s and is being treated in Italy.
The network is to reveal additional details in an interview with Kleybanova tonight. Will watch and update. There have been no reports from anywhere else on this as yet, so TC (which most often uses material from other sources on its news crawl) may have an exclusive.
It would explain why Kleybanova has been out for so long, with no additional explanation other than “illness”. She hasn’t played since losing in the second round of Rome in early May.