Australian Open field hit by injuries
Tue 13 January, 2004 09:30
By Julian Linden
SYDNEY, Jan 13 (Reuters) - The Australian Open women's competition has been ravaged by injury before a ball is hit with the withdrawal of most of the leading contenders.
Last year's winner Serena Williams and twice champion Jennifer Capriati have pulled out. Kim Clijsters is likely to join them after aggravating an ankle problem.
If the Belgian withdraws as expected, three of the top six women in the world will be missing when the grand slam tournament starts at Melbourne Park on Monday.
Monica Seles, a four-times winner of the championship, is also out while 1995 champion Mary Pierce announced she was not travelling to Australia because of a lack of fitness.
Tournament organisers are also waiting to hear whether world number 15 Jelena Dokic is planning to compete. She pulled out of two warm-up events for "personal reasons" but still has not decided whether she will go to Melbourne or not.
"The draw is on Thursday and we still haven't got a final answer," Tennis Australia president Geoff Pollard said.
Tournament organisers are putting on a brave face with officials trying to add some spice to the draw by giving Venus Williams a preferential seeding after the withdrawal of her sister Serena.
Venus, ranked 11th in the world, has already been promoted to third seed behind Justine Henin-Hardenne and Clijsters and could move up to second if Clijsters fails to recover in time.
The Australian Open has traditionally chosen its seeds according to their world rankings but tournament director Paul McNamee explained they were making an exception for Venus.
A former world number one, Venus has not played a competitive match since losing to Serena in last year's Wimbledon final but won an exhibition tournament in Hong Kong at the weekend.
"Whilst it's obviously disappointing to hear that Serena hasn't recovered in time to defend her title, it's great to see that Venus is back playing competitive tennis after her own long-term injury with an impressive victory in Hong Kong," McNamee said.
Serena caught organisers by surprise when she announced at the weekend she had withdrawn because of complications with a knee problem that was operated on in August.
Capriati, Australian Open champion in 2001 and 2002, succumbed to a back problem, while the French Tennis Federation released a statement saying Pierce was struggling for fitness.
Their withdrawals leave Lindsay Davenport as the only player left in the field who has previously won the title.
--
※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc)
◆ From: 203.219.101.22