Australian Open’s survival of the fittest

With the Australian Open starting on Monday, all of the men’s top four have either current or recent injuries, while fitness woes threaten to play havoc with the women’s draw.
Defending champion Kim Clijsters and five-time winner Serena Williams both pulled out of a warm-up event in Brisbane after on-court scares, while 2008 Open victor Maria Sharapova has not played this year due to an ankle problem.
On Wednesday, 10th seed Andrea Petkovic withdrew with a stress fracture in her lower back, becoming the second high-profile cancellation alongside Venus Williams, who has auto-immune disease Sjogren’s syndrome. And world number one Caroline Wozniacki was troubled by a wrist injury in her quarter-finals loss to Agnieszka Radwanska at the Sydney International, but a scan revealed the problem was not serious.
Further withdrawals would inevitably throw the spotlight back on the busy tennis schedule, just months after men’s players threatened to go on strike.
Men’s number two Rafael Nadal, 2009 champion in Melbourne, is one of the walking wounded, and is planning to take a month off in February to rest his troublesome shoulder and knee.
Grand slam record-holder Roger Federer (30), a four-time winner at Melbourne Park and not known for injury problems, pulled out of the Qatar Open with back spasms which he said were “not crazy-bad” but also “not very good”.
“Sometimes you just go through tougher moments,” Federer said earlier. It’s also part of a good player, being able to put that aside and still play good tennis. I promise you I had a lot of pain throughout my career, and I’ve managed to play with it.” – AFP.