Australian Alicia Molik retired from professional tennis last year in September because she was tired of coping with all the injuries, but the 28-year-old feels fresh and fit again and is ready to return to the Tour.

The former world No.8 didn’t want to wait for a wild card into the 2010 Australian Open to be handed to her by Tennis Australia and will instead try to earn her spot in the main draw by playing the next week’s wildcard tournament.

Molik is satisfied on the personal front as well. She recently got engaged to Perth-based man called Tim.

We’re continuing to fulfill readers’ wishes, and as Marine kindly asked, we have compiled an overview of Elena Dementieva's 2009 tennis outfits.

I have to say I’m not a fan of the Yonex-clad Dementieva’s on-court style. She could definitely look much better.

Although the outfits are not ugly, they all look too much alike. For example, compare the dress the Russian wore in Stanford, Cincinnati, Toronto and New York, with the one she sported in Tokyo and Beijing. There hardly is any difference.

In addition, Dementieva wears the same outfit at too many tournaments. The red dress she opened the season with in the beginning of January was present up until Charleston in mid April. She wore it at eight tournaments.

What do you think of Dementieva and her Yonex outfits? Do you like how her 2009 season looked fashion-wise?

Check out all the other retrospections of player outfits we have had so far. (photos: Women Who Serve, Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, Fed Cup, DJ Stotty, Evian Insiders, Apricot Cafe, Tennis Served Fresh, Ralf Reinecke)

It seemed insane when Dinara Safina entered the Brisbane International, because just shortly before entering the tournament the Russian had stated that because of her back injury she might skip the Australian Open, which is after the Brisbane event in the calendar.

So now it comes as no surprise that Safina pulled out of the January 3-10 event, due to the back injury which forced her out of the Sony Ericsson Championships at the end of the 2009 season. (source: AFP, photo: chascow)

Belgian Kim Clijsters beat American Venus Williams 6-1 7-5 on home soil at the Diamond Games exhibition match in Anwerp.

They were playing in front of 14,000 people in the stands and Clijsters said that not even the US Open final can compare with the feeling of winning in your native country before a packed Sportpaleis. (source: Reuters, photo via Sony Ericsson WTA Tour)

I'm so excited to announce a chance for all the readers of Women's Tennis Blog to win a Wilson racquet and a case signed by none other than former world No.1 and seven-time Grand Slam champion Justine Henin - a perfect introduction to the Belgian's return to professional tennis in January 2010. This valuable prize was kindly provided for us by Kevin, our great cooperator from the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour.

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Justine Henin will be making her return to competitive tennis at the Brisbane International in January, and the Belgian is preparing the world for what will probably be another era of her dominance.

The 27-year-old Henin beat world No.12 Flavia Pennetta 6-4 6-4 in an exhibition tournament in Belgium on Sunday, showing how big a contender she still is (not that anyone doubted).

The main goal of Henin’s return will be to add Wimbledon to her collection of seven Grand Slam titles. She reached the Wimbledon final in 2001 and 2006 – the first one she lost to Venus Williams, the second to Amelie Mauresmo.

After Brisbane, Henin will play the Australian Open, the tournament she won in 2004. (photo: Ralf Reinecke)

Victoria Azarenka is making her debut in our retrospections of players' yearly outfits, thanks to a kind request of our regular reader LuLinQa.

Azarenka is sporting Nike, and looking at all her 2009 outfits in one place I can say that they are the perfect choice for widespread use (in the large portion of Maria Sharapova’s you would stand out too much). All the outfits are well-designed, the colors are just right, and we know that Nike doesn't fail with the quality.

My favorite is the French Open dress, without doubt. I love the simple, yet interesting design, especially the back. The dress is the same as the one she wore in Miami, Rome and Madrid, but I prefer the blue Roland Garros version because it's more eye-catching.

Notice that headbands and visors are a must in Azarenka’s on-court appearance.

What do you think of Azarenka’s outfits? Which one is your favorite?

By the way, this is the first time we are doing a retrospection of players’ outfits in slides. Do you like this new medium?

Women’s Tennis Blog has once again been nominated in the Best Tennis Blog category of the annual Baseline Awards.

Our competitors in the category are Open Court with Stephanie Myles / Peter Bodo’s Tennis World / Steve Tignor’s Concrete Elbow / Straight Sets Blog by The New York Times / Tennis Talk, Anyone? / ZooTennis. I can see that the 2007 and 2008 winner, the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Player Blogs, is not in the list this year.

There is a total of eighteen categories, and they include Player of the Year, Most Improved Player of the Year, Best Grand Slam Final of 2009, Biggest Upset of 2009, Most Emotional Moment of 2009, and even Twitterer of the Year.

Voting is open until December 28th, and the winners will be announced on January 1, 2010. If you like what you see here on Women's Tennis Blog, visit www.awards.onthebaseline.com, click on "Vote Today" and vote for us.

After careful consideration, France’s former world number one Amelie Mauresmo, the Australian Open and Wimbledon champion in 2006, announced her retirement December 3rd, 2009.

"It was becoming tough mentally. What happened is I simply did not want to go training any more. My tennis life lasted 25 years, there were extraordinary things and tough moments," said tearful 30-year-old Mauresmo.

"I had three main goals in my career, becoming world number one, claiming a Grand Slam title and a Fed Cup. I achieved all of them," added the winner of 25 WTA Tour singles crowns.

Mauresmo’s career took a downward spiral after her Antwerp Diamond Games victory in 2007, her long recovery process after an appendectomy and a series of injuries, and talks about her retirement have been in the air for a while.

The biggest thing left missing in Mauresmo’s career is a title at her home Grand Slam, the French Open. She has never gone further than the quarterfinals there.

Mauresmo’s last title came at the Paris Open in February 2009 and what happened to be her last match on the Tour was the second-round loss at the US Open to Aleksandra Wozniak.

Mauresmo is finishing her career ranked 21st in the world. (source: Reuters, photo: Stephane Martinache)

Jelena Jankovic has started mentoring Aleksandra Krunic, one of the biggest Serbian women’s tennis hopes.

"It is a great pleasure that Aleksandra chose me for her mentor. Even though I am still actively playing tennis, and I am planning to continue doing that in the next few years, I am glad to be having an opportunity to help a young woman with my experience," said world No.8 Jankovic.

The 16-year-old Krunic started playing professionally in 2008 and is currently ranked 631st. So far, the 16-year-old has won one ITF singles and one ITF doubles title. (source in Serbian: vesti-online, photo: chascow)