When Serena Williams withdrew from the Hopman Cup it was hinted that she could also skip the 2011 Australian Open, but now it is official that Serena will not be defending her title at the Grand Slam in Melbourne. The reason is again her foot injury, which has been standing behind her withdrawals from tournaments ever since she won Wimbledon in the middle of the past season.

Here’s part of Serena’s statement:

As I recently learned, pushing myself back into my intense training too early only caused me further injury and damage. While I desperately want to be back on the court and competing in the first Grand Slam tournament of the year, it is imperative for my health that I continue to work with my doctors to ensure my foot heals properly. This decision, though heavy on my heart, is the right one. I am praying for a healthy recovery and I promise my Aussie fans and my fans around the world that I will be back better than ever as soon as I can be.

As you can see, the actual moment Serena will finally come back to competitive tennis is still absolutely unknown. (source: Tennis Australia, photo: burntfilm)

Thanks to our reader Soko we’re learning about this very surprising piece of news – Ana Ivanovic will team up with established Serbian mixed doubles player Nenad Zimonjic for the 2011 Australian Open and they are even planning to follow it up with a joined appearance at the 2012 London Olympics.

Ivanovic can learn more than a trick or two from Zimonjic – the father of twins has won 38 doubles titles including three Grand Slams and four mixed doubles titles, all four at Grand Slams.

Ivanovic and Zimonjic are planning to play only the Australian Open together, while at other Grand Slams Zimonjic will get back to playing with Slovenia’s Katarina Srebotnik.

It will be Ivanovic’s and Zimonjic’s first time to join forces and if they happen to win the 2012 London Olympics they will enter history books as the winners of the first mixed doubles event at the Summer Olympics.

It would be great if Ivanovic would repeat the same surprising success her countrywoman Jelena Jankovic had with Jamie Murrey at Wimbledon in 2007. (source: Vesti Online, photo: sr_cranks)

Chinese tennis stars Zheng Jie and Li Na have arrived home after their enormous success in Australia and were welcomed by crowds of fans and media.

Zheng and Li made history for China when they reached the 2010 Australian Open semifinals. Actually, never before had two Chinese players been in the second week of a major at the same time. Moreover, Zheng and Li are now both within Top 20 in the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour rankings – Zheng is No.20 and Li has become the first Chinese Top 10 player by reaching No.10.

The national celebration of Zheng’s and Li’s arrival took place in Beijing. They answered questions from fans and media, and donated their equipment to the Chinese Tennis Association's Youth Foundation. Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications China President Roger Eriksson presented Zheng and Li with special gifts for their achievements. (source: Sony Ericsson WTA Tour)

An the 2010 Australian Open Fila debuted spring 2010 Tennis Heritage Collection through women's tennis stars such as Svetlana Kuznetsova, Kim Clijsters, Agnes Szavay and Anna Chakvetadze.

This season Fila is featuring its signature design features – crimson, Chinese red, peacoat and white, boldly accented by contrast piping, stripes and diagonals. The shoe of choice was Fila Alfa performance tennis shoe, a modern complement to the classic style of the Heritage collection.

I like the way Fila is preserving its classic style, which makes it easily distinguishable from other brands. My favorite Fila representative is Svetlana Kuznetsova, and I can't imagine the Russian wearing anything else.

Below you can see some pieces from the new Fila collection.

What do you think of Fila tennis apparel and Spring 2010 Heritage collection?

World No.1 and top seed Serena Williams won her twelfth Grand Slam and her fifth Australian Open one by ending Justine Henin’s hopes of a comeback title with a 6-4 3-6 6-2 victory in the final.

Serena used to win the Australian Open only on odd-numbered years, but today she ended the tradition and also became the first woman in the Open Era to win it five times.

In addition, Williams leveled Billie Jean King’s record in the number of major titles. The two are now ranked sixths in the list; Margaret Court, Steffi Graf, Helen Wills Moody, Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert are ranked better.

Henin was playing only her second tournament after her 18-month retirement and reached the final in both of them. Still, she didn’t manage to match the achievement of fellow Belgian Kim Clijsters who won the 2009 US Open, her first Grand Slam appearance after returning to competition.

"It has been a very emotional two weeks for me. I thought it would never happen again," said the 27-year-old Henin. Later, the seven-time Grand Slam champion assured the audience that she is here to stay: "I'll see you next year."

The former world No.1 Henin,who entered the Australian Open as an unranked wildcard, will remain without a world ranking for one more tournament, but her performance so far convinced us all that the heights of women’s tennis are reserved for her.

As for Serena Williams, what can we say, there is no greater champion in women’s tennis right now. Not only did she win in singles at the 2010 Australian Open, but she won the doubles competition a day earlier (for the fourth time in Melbourne!), and not to mention that she won both singles and doubles last year as well. Serena's taping on right thigh and left knee couldn’t stop her hunger to win and I am certain the American will add more Grand Slam trophies to her already impressive collection. (photos via Yahoo)