Venus out of Australian Open

Venus Williams has pulled out of the Australian Open due to a wrist injury.

The three-times Wimbledon champion joins world number one Justine Henin-Hardenne in withdrawing from the Melbourne event, which starts next week, and her absence will no doubt re-open the debate about the timing of the season’s first grand slam.

Henin-Hardenne pulled out for undisclosed personal reasons while Russian duo Svetlana Kuznetsova and Nadia Petrova will also be missing.

In the men’s draw another Russian, Nikolay Davydenko, is a doubt after retiring with a foot injury during his second-round match against Paul-Henri Mathieu at the Medibank International in Sydney.