Melbourne: Injury and illness may have affected their game but the Williams sisters, Venus and Serena, will play in the Australian Open next month, confirmed Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley.
Venus will still come to Melbourne despite withdrawing from her scheduled warm-up tournament in New Zealand for health reasons, according to Tiley.
American Venus, who has been receiving treatment for Sjogren's syndrome, an auto-immune disease, pulled out of the January 2-7 Auckland Classic, organisers said earlier this week. Tiley said he had spoken to Williams's agent to check her availability after news of the withdrawal.
"I wanted to touch base but there's no change for her. She's coming," Tiley said in comments published by the Australian newspaper on Friday. Williams withdrew from September's US Open with Sjogren's, a chronic disease where white blood cells attack moisture-producing glands causing fatigue and joint soreness.
The five-time Wimbledon champion played in only four tournaments this year, a quarter-final at Eastbourne, ahead of Wimbledon, being her best result. She missed first four months with a right hip problem. The seven-time Grand Slam champion has decided to have an extra two weeks' preparation for Melbourne (January 16-29) and give Auckland a miss.
Her younger sister Serena, who missed the last Australian Open, has also had a bad run this year. The former world number one was hit with a heel injury and then pulmonary embolism, missing 12 months in total, not returning until June.
She then withdrew from Tokyo and Beijing in October with illness and finished the year at No. 12. Venus's ranking has slipped to 102, the lowest the former No. 1 has been in 15 years, but said last month that she hoped to return to the tour full-time in 2012 and to climb back up to top of the rankings.
The sisters will play in a mixed doubles exhibition match in Florida on Friday to help raise funds for a youth education charity.
The Australian Open starts on January 16.
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