Tennis News

Tennis superstar Serena Williams has declared herself over a hamstring problem and primed for another assault on a fourth Australian Open crown.

The world No.2 arrived in Sydney on Thursday morning ahead of her 2009 tournament debut at next week's Sydney International.

While older sister Venus has opted to start her season this week in a teams event in Hong Kong, Serena is returning to Sydney for the first time in seven years.

Australians Tyra Calderwood, Sophie Ferguson, Monique Adamczak and Alison Bai have all been awarded wildcards into the women’s qualifying draw for the Medibank International Sydney.

Such is the strength of the draw, top seed Sofia Arvidsson is ranked 55 in the world and the cut off is 117 (Ekatarina Bychkova).

The top two seeds Arvidsson and Lucie Safarova, who were both in the main draw of the Brisbane International (Safarova reached the quarterfinals), now find themselves in the qualifying rounds at the Medibank International Sydney.

World number 53, Australia’s Casey Dellacqua, has secured a place in the main draw for the Medibank International Sydney, which gets underway on Sunday 11 January at Sydney Olympic Park Tennis Centre.

Tournament organisers have awarded Dellacqua a wildcard for the event, alongside fellow Australian Samantha Stosur.

Australia’s No.1 female player, Samantha Stosur, has secured a place in the main draw for January’s Medibank International Sydney.

Tournament organisers announced today that the world’s number 52 has been allocated a wildcard for the January 11 to 17 event at Sydney Olympic Park Tennis Centre.

 Russia spared Hopman Cup organisers from consulting their calculators on Thursday by downing France 2-1 and booking a place in the Perth final against Slovakia.

Defeat for Russia would have meant they, along with France and Italy, would have each won two of their three round-robin Group B ties.

The scenario would have left organisers to select the finalist based on a complicated breakdown of which nation won more matches, sets and games.

Spain's Fernando Verdasco reached the semi-finals of the Brisbane International when he came from behind to beat Frenchman Florent Serra.

 Rafael Nadal’s Australian Open preparations hit a stumbling block on Thursday when he was beaten 6-4 6-4 by Frenchman Gael Monfils in the quarter-finals of the Qatar Open.

The world number one had been hoping to get some much-needed match practice before the season’s opening grand slam, which starts on Jan. 19, after being injured during the final stages of the 2008 season.

Venus Williams crushed world No.1 Jelena Jankovic in straight sets, inspiring the Americas to victory over second seeds Europe at Hong Kong's World Team Challenge.

The Medibank International beginning in Sydney on Sunday is a must-see for those wishing to punt-up on the Australian Open in Melbourne later this month. But while we gather information on the form of the players, both male and female, we may as well have a small wager on the Sydney tournament to sharpen our interest.

The experienced Russian Elena Dementieva, who has played in the past 10 Australian Opens, will play in the warm-up tournament in Sydney after competing in Auckland this week and is tipped to be tough to beat.

Serena Williams has arrived in Sydney and declared herself fully fit ahead of the start of her summer campaign at the 2009 Medibank International Sydney.

After battling a hamstring strain late last season, the American superstar said she had made a full recovery and rated her hamstring as “excellent”.

“I don’t think I have any hammy problems. I’m good, yeah,” she told a throng of reporters at Sydney airport today.