In a short statement on her website, Venus Williams announced an unfortunate piece of news that her comeback will be postponed until after the Australian Open.

The tennis star, suffering from an autoimmune disorder called Sjogren's syndrome, has been training and receiving treatment for several months, and although she has experienced noticeable progress towards top form, she will have to skip the first Grand Slam of the season. Williams’ return is expected in February.

Williams hasn't played since the US Open and has fallen to No.100 in the rankings. She was ranked 36th during the US Open. (photo: sr_cranks)

Venus Williams may have played only 11 matches in four tournaments during 2011, but the abundance and shockingness of her outfits makes me have an impression she played at least 15 events this season. The tennis champion is a graduate in fashion design and has her own EleVen clothing line, but I advise you to dull your receptors before checking out what she had on offer during the 2001 season.

Even though Venus' designs in 2010 raised quite a few eyebrows and made a lot of tennis fans say "what?" and "why?", right at the beginning of the year the American pushed her own boundaries of tackiness with a dress whose top is some yellow net and bottom a blur of undefinable colors.

Even though she played only three matches at the January's grand stage, Venus had a different dress ready for each one of them. Fellow tennis fashion shocker Bethanie Mattek Sands may admire Venus for the fact that she designs her own clothes, but I can only assume that Bethanie is speaking for the minority. Read more »

A year ago I interviewed Bethanie Mattek Sands about her favorite tennis outfit, her tattoos, her best friends on the WTA Tour, etc. This fall I had an opportunity to interview the American again and I asked her about her 2011 season, her leisure activities and of course her opinion on the on-court WTA fashion.

MARIJA: What will you remember the 2011 season for?

BETHANIE MATTEK SANDS: Even though my 2011 season ended early due to injury I was able to reach a career high ranking and still get some of my best wins to date. The win at Hopman Cup with my partner John Isner was an amazing start to my season and I really felt I was able to gain some momentum and confidence. Off the court I have to say the Wimbledon Player Party will always be memorable as I got to rock a custom Alex Noble dress on the red carpet.

MARIJA: How is your shoulder injury now? Will you be perfectly healthy for the start of the new season and the Hopman Cup?

BETHANIE MATTEK SANDS: I'm happy to say my shoulder has come along way from where it was. I've been able to practice the last couple weeks but the time off and rehab I was able to take really helped it heal up. I'm excited to be going back to Perth for Hopman Cup at the end of December. If it wasn't such a far flight I would be "down under" more often!

MARIJA: What was your favorite activity you had more time for during the rehabilitation process? I read that you enjoyed cooking? Read more »

Never in their eight previous matches in the period of eight years, from 2002 to 2010, had Francesca Schiavone beaten Venus Williams, and at the December 3rd exhibition event in Milan, the Italian managed to beat both the Williams sisters, on top of showing her dancing skills by entertaining the 11,000 crowd to Michael Jackson's "Beat It" with Flavia Pennetta.

Schiavone defeated Venus 7-5 7-3, and then Serena 7-3 8-10 8-6. Pennetta also beat Venus, 7-6 7-2, but lost to Serena 6-8 7-3 7-3. The Williams sisters won the doubles 3-7 8-6 8-6.

Neither of the Williams sisters played competitive tennis since the US Open, however they did play another exhibition match recently, last month in Columbia, and Venus defeated Serena 6-4 7-6(5). (source: ESPN)

WTA Tour revealed a behind-the-scenes video of Maria Sharapova and Venus Williams shooting the "Strong is Beautiful" campaign. The result of their modeling work can be seen here.

New York and fashion go hand in hand, and tennis outfits are no exception, especially when we have a high-profile event such as the US Open. So let's see what the manufacturers of tennis clothes prepared for our WTA stars and there is no better way to start than with American Bethanie Mattek Sands who integrated patriotism in her attire.

Don't you love the American-flag tube socks and the accompanying red shoes? Bethanie looks awesome in her Under Armour outfit with accessories that perfectly match the US Open occasion.

Bethanie is known for her experiments with fashion and her most recent took place before and during Wimbledon, when she incorporated tennis balls in her player party and on-court outfits.

Venus Williams shocked with her EleVen US Open dress as much as she did with her subsequent abrupt withdrawal due to a long-undiagnosed syndrome.

Top seed Caroline Wozniacki and Stella McCartney absolutely failed to inspire with a white dress much more suitable for Wimbledon. Why not use colors for the US Open when you can?

Read more »

Venus Williams shocked the tennis world when she abruptly withdrew from the US Open prior to her second round match against Sabine Lisicki. Media were first reporting the reason was an unspecified illness and soon it was defined as Sjogren's Syndrome, an autoimmune disorder which had been bothering the tennis champion for quite some time but has been diagnosed only recently, when more symptoms occurred.

I had swelling and numbness and fatigue, which was really debilitating. I just didn't have any energy. And it's not that you don't have energy — you just feel beat up.

The 31-year-old Williams said she "absolutely" plans to play tennis again, even though there is no cure for her health problem.

Sjogren's is something you live with your whole life. The good news for me is now I know what's happening after spending years not knowing… I feel like I can get better and move on.

(source: Australian Open, photo: © Neal Trousdale)

Venus Williams denied the US Open spectators a thrilling second round match against Sabine Lisicki by pulling out with an unspecified illness which was later defined as an autoimmune disease, more specifically - Sjogren’s Syndrome, which affects energy level, causes fatigue and joint pain.

I enjoyed playing my first match here and wish I could continue, but right now I am unable to. I am thankful I finally have a diagnosis and am now focused on getting better and returning to the court soon.

The final Grand Slam of the season was Williams' only fourth tournament of the season. On top of that, she has now left two of the four with a retirement.  Read more »

Venus Williams is still coming up with, hm, questionable designs for her tennis outfits and she's still a fan of lace and zippers, this time combined. In her 6-4 6-3 victory over Vesna Dolonts in the first round of the US Open, Venus sported a black dress which looks cute in the front, but when Venus turns her back your eyes pop out.

The black dress has a white lace in the back adorned by a pink zipper!

At Wimbledon, the last tournament Williams played before the US Open, the American fashion designer and tennis champion sported what we called a zipper jumper outfit, and last year at the French Open she worked a lace dress with a nude color shorts which grabbed all the attention.

Because of a viral illness Williams returned to full practicing only last week. Actually, the US Open is only her fourth tournament this season, after the Australian Open, Eastbourne and Wimbledon. (photos: Rob Loud/usopen.org and via Down the Line)

The WTA has added new imagery to their "Strong is Beautiful" campaign, under the title "Active Legends".

Along will players whose faces are not commonly exploited in the WTA marketing, Serena Williams was featured when the campaign launched in May. Venus Williams and Maria Sharapova are now part of the campaign for the first time. Read more »