Serena Williams has been away from the courts for too long, and now the word is out that her foot injury sustained at a German restaurant has been worsened by a serious bone infection (osteomyelitis). What? Supposedly, Serena’s foot is not responding to intravenous antibiotics such as Vancomycin, considered as a last resort, and Serena is now losing weight and growing weaker. Not to mention that rumors are even saying Serena may lose her leg.

All this is so shocking that I absolutely don't believe it's true. However, if this is just a rumor, the people who launched it are very irresponsible.

Serena's tweet of January 23rd about her sore throat ("My throat feels raw. every time I take a sip of sumthin it feels like i just swallowed 20,000 mini knives. its 5:10am…") has been taken as a proof of the side effects of the antibiotics by some sources: "IV Vancomycin’s serious side effects include a persistent sore throat and swelling of the tongue and throat". No other health issues have been mentioned by Serena on her Twitter ever since.

Serena has significantly dropped in the rankings following her skipping of the Australian Open, and is now ranked 12th.

The recent Australian Open final featured two great women whose tennis careers have been supported by their loving husbands. Benjamin Snyder of TenaciouslyTennis.com wrote a nice guest post for Tennis Served Fresh, paying tribute to the roles of Kim Clijsters' and Li Na's husbands in their successful careers.

Since marrying Brian Lynch, a retired American basketball player, Kim Clijsters won seven titles, including three Grand Slams and the WTA Championships in Doha. Brian is always there to support Kim in her matches and also helps with their wonderful daughter, Jada.

Here's the glowing Kim, now ranked No.2, showcasing her Australian Open trophy at Brighton Beach in Melbourne.

Li Na has been married to Jiang Shan for five years. Jiang is a former tennis player and he is coaching Li. After her loss to Clijsters in the final, Li had a message for her husband: "It doesn't matter if you are fat or skinny, handsome or ugly. I will always follow you and always love you."

Additional info: 2011 is probably the last Kim's full year on the WTA Tour. When asked whether this was maybe her last Australian Open, Kim answered affirmatively.

The top ranked doubles team of Gisela Dulko and Flavia Pennetta won seven titles last year, including the WTA Championships, and they upped one level by adding the Australian Open title, their first Grand Slam, to their successful partnership.

The win against Victoria Azarenka and Maria Kirilenko in the Australian Open women's doubles final didn’t come easily – actually the Argentinean-Italian pair lost the first set and faced match points at 5-4 in the second set. Dulko and Pennetta then won three games in a row to level at one set all, and powered through the third set to win 2-6 7-5 6-1.

Dulko and Pennetta played the quarterfinals of all four Grand Slams last year, and the semifinals of Wimbledon. Azarenka was a Grand Slam finalist in doubles two times, including the 2008 Australian Open with Shahar Peer. (photo AP via Yahoo)

At the 2011 Australian Open, Li Na made a great step for Chinese tennis, even though her first Grand Slam final went to the hands of Kim Clijsters, who won her fourth major title and her first away from New York.

Seed No.3 Clijsters had the advantage of more experience, but Li was a great competitor and despite her nervousness, she didn’t melt down as we have seen with other first-time finalists on grand stage. The ninth-seeded Li won the first set 6-3 and kept the match uncertain almost until the end. When Clijsters had three match points at 40-0, it was pretty clear who was to become the latest Australian Open champion, and the humble Belgian won on her first match point. Final score: 3-6 6-3 6-3.

Li has nothing to regret: she gave resistance in the final, made history for China by becoming its first Grand Slam finalist, came to the championships match with a perfect 11-0 record in 2011, which included the victory over Clijsters herself in the Sydney final and the victory over world No.1 Caroline Wozniacki in the semis of the Australian Open.

I’m mentioning Li’s achievement more, because Clijsters’ post-retirement achievements are so amazing that whatever I would say would not be enough. Three Grand Slam titles, including the defense of the US Open one, and now back-to-back Grand Slam titles, all that while being a mother – Kim, you deserve utmost appreciation.

To reach the final Kim defeated, in order: Dinara Safina, Carla Suarez Navarro, Alize Cornet, Ekaterina Makarova, seed No.12 Agnieszka Radwanska and second seed Vera Zvonareva.

I’d like to add one more thing about this final. There were no screams, overexpressed emotions (including the trophy ceremony), flashy outfits – it was a simple and enjoyable encounter of two nice ladies doing what they do best. (photo: AP via Yahoo)

As our reader Brenda from Argentina asked for my overview of the 2011 Australian Open tennis fashion, here it is – a little bit of every brand, a little bit of good and bad.

Let's not save the best for the last. Let's start with by far the biggest fashion attention-grabber of the tournament – Venus Williams. The American played three matches (actually two, but she started her third one) and showcased the same number of outfits. The following one is the unofficial ugliest tennis outfit of the decade.

Venus, a graduate in fashion design and the person behind clothing line EleVen, made the outfits herself.

Believe it or not, Venus' dresses, or whatever they can be called, have gained a fan base. Whoever likes Venus' latest EleVen dresses, please leave a comment! I'm sure the world would love to hear your reasoning.

I'd like to continue with Nadia Petrova, the representative of Ellesse. Petrova has also had some colorful and imaginative styles (remember her US Open 2010 outfit that had stripes of all the possible colors?). There might be sound logic behind Petrova's support of EleVen.

Another fashion favorite is always Aravane Rezai. Even though this time her family drama attracted more attention than her dress, the Frenchwoman stayed faithful to the touch of crazy uniqueness. Although, she definitely can do better!

Let's move on to adidas – plenty of it. Read more »

China’s Li Na has retained her perfect match record this season by upsetting world No.1 and top seed Caroline Wozniacki and becoming the first Asian player in the Open Era to reach a Grand Slam final in singles.

The victory didn't come without excitement – Wozniacki took the first set as Li made 17 unforced errors to 7 winners, and then the Dane had a match point at 5-4 in the second set. The thing that makes tennis amazing is that it's never over til it's over – Li shot a risky forehand, saved the match point and eventually won the set 7-5. In the third set Li again had more unforced errors than winners, although only two more, but Wozniacki hit zero winners! Can't beat that!

The ninth-seeded Li won the match 3-6 7-5 6-3 and continued to write tennis history for China.

Li’s opponent in the championship match will be Kim Clijsters, who has played in the finals of three of four Grand Slams, although she was victorious only at the US Open. With a 6-3 6-3 victory over second seed Vera Zvonareva in the semis, third-seeded Clijsters closely approached her second straight Grand Slam title.  But before the Belgian holds the winner's trophy, she'll have to overcome Li, who defeated her this month in the Sydney final. As for overall career record, Clijsters leads Li 4-2.

Additional info: Reuters has a great factbox about the progress of Chinese tennis. (photos: Tidalist)

Only a year after her comeback, Justine Henin announced her second retirement, once again out of the blue, although not as surprising as last time. The main reason for the Belgian's retirement No.2 is her right elbow injury, which has troubled her since her fall during the match against Kim Clijsters in the fourth round of Wimbledon 2010, and it's been further damaged during the Australian Open.

In the period between June 2010 and January 2011, Henin didn't play competitive tennis, except for the mixed doubles event, the Hopman Cup in Australia, where she reached the final. At the 2011 Australian Open, Svetlana Kuznetsova defeated her in the third round (Henin's earliest Grand Slam exit since 2005).

Here's a short extract from Henin's official statement (thanks, Migi, for sharing it with me!):

After my crash at Wimbledon in June, I knew it would be difficult to come back. But I had decided to keep playing and to give everything to overcome the injury. In these recent months I have rarely been spared from the pain, those last months were very hard. Time has passed, and the doubts have grown, and only return to the courts would give me answers. Not the answer I was hoping for… unfortunately. I suffered a lot the last week and every day gave me more and more pain, but I believed that my will would take the upper hand. Today, the examinations are clearly and and the doctors formally, my elbow is too fragile and hurt so that my passion and my profession at high level cannot continue to exist.

So unlike last time, when Henin's reasons for retirement were mostly in her head, she wanted to dedicate her life to other things and not only tennis, this time it's purely physical. Note: at the moment of her first retirement Henin was ranked No.1, now she's  No.13. (photo: Ralf Reinecke)

Vera Zvonareva and Kim Clijsters joined Caroline Wozniacki and Li Na in the semifinals of the 2011 Australian Open, after the Russian second seed defeated Petra Kvitova 6-2 6-4 and the Belgian third seed defeated Agnieszka Radwanska 6-3 7-6(4). This means that we have the top three seeds in the semis, and Li who is yet to lose a match this season.

Zvonareva reached her third successive Grand Slam semifinal, in straight sets, but not before Kvitova, who had upset Samantha Stosur and Flavia Pennetta earlier in the tournement, went from 0-4 to 2-4 in the first set, and more importantly, from 0-3 to 4-3 in the second. Clijsters also advanced in straight sets against Radwanska, who was playing her first tournament in three months.

The semifinal pair of Zvonareva and Clijsters has met 9 times in their careers. Clijsters won their first five meetings, until 2006, but from then on Zvonareva won three of their four matches, all happening in 2010. (source: WTA Tour, photo: Upali)

Top seed Caroline Wozniacki advanced to the Australian Open semifinals by taking out Francesca Schiavone, thus ensuring to remain on top of the WTA rankings. After winning the longest match in women’s Grand Slam history, Schiavone still had fuel in her tank and took the first set from Wozniacki 6-3. The Italian even earned a lead in the second set, 3-1, but from then on Wozniacki won five games in a row and came through 3-6 6-3 6-3.

Wozniacki will next play ninth seed Li Na, player who defeated her in the fourth round last year and later made big news by reaching her first Grand Slam semifinal. This year Li managed to repeat the feat, by beating Andrea Petkovic 6-2 6-4 in the quarters, and in quite a fashion – Li hasn't dropped more than six games in any of her matches at the Australian Open. Moreover, she came to the tournament without losing a match this season, which included a Sydney title earned by a victory over Kim Clijsters in the final.

Besides last year's Australian Open win over Wozniacki, Li has another 2010 victory over the Dane, again in Australia, in Sydney. Wozniacki defeated Li once, in Luxembourg, three years ago. Therefore, Li leads their head-to-head record 2-1. (photo: Tidalist)

Second seed Vera Zvonareva is two matches away from reaching her third successive Grand Slam final (after Wimbledon and US Open last year), as she edged the first set and cruised through the second for a 6-4 6-1 victory over unseeded Iveta Benesova.

Zvonareva’s quarterfinal opponent will be Wimbledon 2010 surprise semifinalist Petra Kvitova, who took out fifth seed Samantha Stosur in the third round and on Monday she fought back to beat Flavia Pennetta, seed No.22, 3-6 6-3 6-3.

After wasting six break opportunities, Kim Clijsters was pushed to tiebreak by unseeded Ekaterina Makarova in the first set. The third-seeded Clijsters won the tiebreak 7-3, and soon after the whole match 7-6(3) 6-2.

Quarterfinal pairs (seeding is in brackets):

(1) Caroline Wozniacki vs. (6) Francesca Schiavone
(30) Andrea Petkovic vs. (9) Li Na
(12) Agnieszka Radwanska vs. (3) Kim Clijsters
(25) Petra Kvitova vs. (2) Vera Zvonareva

(photo: © Neal Trousdale)