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)

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.

After retiring with a right hip injury from the Australian Open (her first retirement in 251 career Grand Slam matches), Venus made a long break, returning only in June on the grass of Eastbourne and sporting a white dress similar to her two Australian Open dresses in blue and black. But it was only the calm before the storm.

For Wimbledon Venus prepared a white undefined piece of clothing which could be called a jumper dress, moving awkwardly during play.

Venus' liking of trashy dresses didn't wear out towards the end of the season. For the US Open the shiny tennis star designed a black dress with a white lace back adorned with a pink zipper. The appearance at Flushing Meadows was Venus' last competition of the season, due to Sjogren's syndrome she's been diagnosed with, but she did later return for exhibition matches.

In a November exhibition match in Colombia Venus played against sister Serena and beat her 6-4 7-6(5). The dress the elder sister wore for the occasion looked promising in the front, but when you got to see the back you were again struck by lace adorned with a black zipper matching a black bra.

Unfortunate fashion continued when on December 3 in Milan the Williams sisters played an exhibition and Venus' strap broke in front of full stands. Venus had to leave the court and change the outfit.

Do you remember that Venus made much more subtle dresses in 2009? What's your opinion? Why did she make her style so extreme? Or do you happen to like her choices?

The entire list of Women's Tennis Blog's retrospections of WTA players' clothing, dating back to 2007, is available here. This year so far we've featured Caroline Wozniacki in Stella McCartney, Petra Kvitova in Nike and Andrea Petkovic in classic Adidas.

(photos: © Neal Trousdale, Queen of Sports, Yoghurt_Monster, Liannedijkhuizen, hannah_huck, WTA Tour)

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?

BETHANIE MATTEK SANDS: I recently bought a beach cruiser and I'll take my doggy Ruger out for a bike ride with me. He's normally really good at running next to me, until he sees a rabbit! Besides that I've been able to do a little baking in the kitchen and right now my two favorites are Paula Deen's monster Cookies and my own Sweet potato Pie. I'm always very health conscience when I eat but I'll never skimp out on the good ingredients in my desserts!

MARIJA: You have a unique style, so I would like to ask you which WTA player would you point out as interesting fashion-wise? I’m asking this because on your website I read your statement saying:

"Yeah, I was watching a match – two girls dressed head-to- toe in the same thing, blonde hair, ponytail – and I didn’t even know who was who, and I play with them!"

BETHANIE MATTEK SANDS: I think so many players have a great sense of style off the court. On court attire can be tough because a lot of the girls are told what to wear by their sponsor. I think Venus has had some really stand out outfits this year, my favorites was her colorful dress at Australian Open and her Wimbledon white skort outfit. Whats cool about her wardrobe is she actually draws up her own ideas… I'm jealous! I really need to work on my drawing skills before I can start doing that.

MARIJA: Your cooperation with Lady Gaga’s designer Alex Noble for your Wimbledon clothes will be remembered for years to come. Will you work with him again?

BETHANIE MATTEK SANDS: I loved meeting and getting to know Alex Noble this year. I think he is so creative and it was a blast to get to pick his brain and see a little bit of his design process. I hope to work with him again for another event this upcoming year!

MARIJA: What do you think of WTA’s recent promo activities such as Xperia Hot Shots and the Strong is Beautiful campaign?

BETHANIE MATTEK SANDS: I think the WTA's "Strong is Beautiful" campaigned turned out amazing. I love photo shoots… It's always fun to get your hair and makeup done and take some fun pictures that turn out pretty.  As much as we love training, practicing and working hard, our action shots aren't always the most flattering!

Bethanie, thank you for taking your time to answer my questions. I wish you a successful 2012 season and a lot of fashion fun! By the way, why am I not surprised that Bethanie admires Venus' style? (photos: © Neal Trousdale)

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.

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?

Regular Adidas prepared a lovely collection for the US Open, with dominant colors being pink, blue and white, and all the players wearing it look perfect. Above you can see Simona Halep, Andrea Petkovic and Maria Kirilenko in Adidas Fall Barricade clothes, while Ana Ivanovic and Sorana Cirstea are cled in Adidas Fall Adizero Feather collection.

Ellesse luckily has Galina Voskoboeva stealing the spotlight from Nadia Petrova. While Petrova's print makes your eyesight blurry, Voskoboeva is attracting all the right attention with the fluffy dress that suits her perfectly.

We have already talked a lot about Nike and you know everything about their US Open apparel (Maria Sharapova's and Serena Williams' dresses, Sharapova's jacket, Li Na's and Victoria Azarenka's outfits), so here's just a collage of photos which is also featuring Sabine Lisicki, a new representative of Nike.

Besides Vera Zvonareva, K-Swiss had Alona Bondarenko and Alexandra Dulgheru representing it. Dulgheru will remember this US Open for her stunning first round victory over reigning Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova.

Jelena Jankovic was working a yellow Anta dress, while Dominika Cibulkova sported a white, black and purple Lacoste dress (Samantha Stosur is wearing a similar dress, just that colors are distributed differently).

Svetlana Kuznetsova is a perfect match with Fila sportswear brand. It's a pity that Fila's Kim Clijsters, twice defending champion at the US Open, had to miss the tournament.

My favorites this US Open are Maria Sharapova's night dress, Adidas Adizero tank and skort on Sorana Cirstea, Galina Voskoboeva looked cute in the white Ellesse dress, and Fila on Svetlana Kuznetsova is a good combination. Also, Bethanie Mattek Sands' outfit has a thumbs up from me. What do you think? Which styles do you prefer?

For a complete insight into the 2011 Grand Slam fashion, check out our overviews of Australian Open, Roland Garros and Wimbledon WTA outfits. (photos: © Neal Trousdale, Rob Loud/usopen.org, 2011 AFP, Don Star/usopen.org, Philip Hall/usopen.org)

Venus Williams

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

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. 

Williams also left us without an opportunity to witness another tennis fashion shock – she's known for working many different outfits during a Grand Slam and the dress she wore in her first round victory over Vesna Dolonts was building additional anticipation for Venus' second match.

While the renowned American disappointed the home crowd with her absence, 19-year-old Christina McHale is making a name for herself. The young American, who defeated world No.1 Caroline Wozniacki at Cincinnati two weeks ago and then world No.16 Svetlana Kuznetsova last week at New Haven to increase the record against the Russian to 2-0, today at the US Open upset eighth seed Marion Bartoli 7-6(2) 6-2. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)

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.

A few days ago the WTA announced the achievements of their social media marketing efforts and one of the successes they mentioned was the "Strong is Beautiful" campaign, which has received close to 1.8 million views on YouTube.

Here you can see the whole gallery of the newly-added photos.