Ana Ivanovic will not be able to play the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships because of tendonitis in her shoulder.

The world No.23 had been aware of the injury for quite some time, but she aggravated it during the last week’s doubles match in the Fed Cup.

"I'm very frustrated about this. I've had so many small injuries these past few months and this is another," said Ivanovic, who can’t serve because of the pain in her shoulder.

The doctors have told Ivanovic that she should be fine in 10 days or so. (source: Ana Ivanovic's official website, photo: chascow)

World No.2 Dinara Safina still hasn't recovered from the back injury which has been bothering her for months, and the 23-year-old Russian will skip the $2,000,000 Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships which starts next week.

Because of the same injury, Safina withdrew from last year's Sony Ericsson Championships and this season's Australian Open.

Safina is hoping to return to competition in March, to play the $4.5-million BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells. (source: Dinara Safina's official website, photo by chascow)

The Sony Ericsson WTA Tour staged its second "Iconic" photo shoot during the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships, and big tennis names such as Serena Williams, Dinara Safina, Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic and Daniela Hantuchova glammed up to be photographed by world-renowned Lorenzo Aguis.

In the following behind-the-scenes video you can see the players posing and commenting on how they felt about modeling.

Sixth seed Venus Williams won her 40th career Sony Ericsson WTA Tour singles title with a 6-4 6-2 win over unseeded Virginie Razzano in the final of the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships.

Dating back to the 2007 season, Williams has won seven of her last eight finals appearances, and that sole final she lost was to Razzano at the 2007 Japan Open. Razzano then defeated Williams in three sets, by saving as much as three match points in the second set tiebreak. Today’s Williams’ victory could therefore be seen as a nice revenge.

Venus Williams, currently ranked 6th, will move back to the world’s Top 5, for the first time since August 2003.

Despite the loss, the world No.58 Razzano can be more than satisfied with her success at the tournament, since she experienced the best week of her career. Her victory over world No.2 Dinara Safina was her first victory over a Top 5 player; and then a few days later came a win over world No.5 Vera Zvonareva, which was the longest match of the tournament.

"I have to congratulate Virginie on such a great week – she beat so many Top 10 players and just played so well today. She really had a better week than I did," Williams said.

By reaching the finals Razzano is projected to move into the Top 40. (photo via Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships)

The United Arab Emirates denied Israeli player Shahar Peer a visa last week, so she wasn’t able to compete in the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships. The Sony Ericsson WTA Tour has taken action in reference to Shahar Peer, Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Dubai Tournament to mend the situation and prevent it from happening again.

Here’s what, Larry Scott, Chairman & CEO of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, stated:

The actions taken today are intended to redress the wrongs suffered by Shahar Peer, who was victimized by an unjust policy of discrimination by the UAE. These actions are also intended to send a clear message that our Tour will not tolerate discrimination of any kind and that we will never allow this situation to happen again, in UAE or elsewhere. Thanks to the courage of Shahar, and all those individuals and organizations – including her fellow players – that supported her, the UAE has changed their policy and another barrier of discrimination has fallen.

Sony Ericsson WTA Tour actions in reference to Shahar Peer, Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Dubai Tournament:

• Shahar Peer Ranking Points: The awarding of 130 ranking points to Shahar Peer – an amount equal to the points that she earned during the same week in 2008 that she was unable to defend this past week in Dubai.

• Shahar Peer Prize Money: The awarding of US$44,250 to Shahar Peer – an amount equal to the average prize money that she earned per tournament (singles and doubles) in 2008. Read more »