“I explained that after my match on the first, what happened the Sunday before on my knee, something very strange,” he said. ”But that’s why, because Sunday afternoon, 24 hours to play my first match, I was in my room crying because I believe I didn’t had the chance to play Melbourne. So it was a very, very tough situation for me, these hours. Two weeks later I am here in the finals, so is a dream for me because having very bad expectations 24 hours before the first match, and now two weeks later I am playing well.”

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Now she has come out with the outragous statement that she would not have played the tournament had it not been a major.

“No, no way. I probably shouldn’t have played. But no way,” Serena told reporters. “I never blame any injury that I have because I feel like she played really well and she deserved the win…Obviously I’m not 100 percent, and I haven’t been. But it’s no excuse.”

I find this a complete joke after we reported that after Brisbane she was in Melbourne early training and looked completely fine (she only twisted her ankle).

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Serena Williams has withdrawn from the Brisbane International with an ankle injury. Williams suffered the injury in her second round match with Bojana Jovanovski.

I have been to hospital and it has been confirmed that I have a left ankle sprain that I probably shouldn’t play on.  I’m going to take a couple of days off – not too many – and see how I feel. I’m still hopeful of playing the Australian Open.

Im sure Williams will rest up and have a lot of physio leading up to the Australian Open 2012 and hopefully she will be ready.

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After hurting her left ankle at the Pan Pacific Championships in Tokyo, Japan earlier this year, Maria Sharapova has decided to withdraw from the Brisbane International.

Sharapova told tournament officials that she’s just not 100% ready yet to compete at the top level. However, it shouldn’t hinder her chances of appearing at next year’s Australian Open. This would have been Maria’s first appearance at the event after she committed to it earlier this year instead of reappearing at the ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand

This injury has been quite the obstacle for Sharapova in her previous two tournaments, the first being the China Open where she was forced to retire and of course the Year-Ending Championships in Istanbul, where she retired after losing her first two matches in the round-robin stage.

The Australian Open begins on Jan 16th and we hope Maria will make her comeback there with favorable results.

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Three of these retirements have interestingly come from qualifiers (Niland, Sorensen, Dancevic) including Novak Djokovic’s first round opponent, Connor Niland, who retired after just over 40 minutes due to food poisoning.   It is extremely unfortunate to have to grind out three tough qualifying matches on the outside courts the week before the Open and then succumb to injury in the first round of the Main Draw.

I think this high occurrence of retirements is more easily explained by simply citing that a coincidence has occurred as there no evidence that these retirements are somehow connected due to some uncontrollable variable such as heat or humidity.

With over a week left before the final major of the year reaches this conclusion, don’t expect many more r’s in the draw as every match is do or die in the final grand slam of the year.

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Flavio Cipolla was leading 6-4, 6-2 on Monday when Nishikori retired.

Im sure Nishikori will be back at the US Open and hopefully next time he can improve his preparation for the tournament and make sure he doesnt get injured.

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He has stated in the WSJ that he is using a a machine called the hyperbaric chamber in which, a person stays inside in order to compress the muscles at rhythmic intervals. The machine does this by simulating an environment that has high altitude.

The machine in question is called the CVAC Pod which is made by CVAC Systems. It costs $75,000 and the company which makes it, claims that a mere 20 minutes in the pod three times a week can boost athletic performance by drastically improving circulation, boosting red-blood cells, removing lactic acid and maybe aid in stem-cell production.

CVAC Systems CEO Allen Ruszkowski also claims that the technology may be twice as effective at helping the body absorb oxygen as blood doping, which we all know is banned as a performance enhancement. Strangely enough, other athletes are said to use the pod. Ruszkowski said they do so “because they feel it’s a competitive advantage.”

During the current US Open tourney in New York held for the next two weeks, Novak is said to be staying at the New Jersey home of former pro Gordon Uehling, who apparently houses this futuristically innovative machine. Some current clients of another former touring pro Geoff Grant, who have tried the machine “say it’s like a drug. It’s weird—it’s definitely something from the future.”

Current number one in the world Novak Djokovic had this to say about the new miracle-working gadget. ”I think it really helps—not with muscle but more with recovery after an exhausting set,” Djokovic said. “It’s like a spaceship. It’s very interesting technology.”

Whether or not this thing really works, which will be quite interesting to examine especially with Novak’s US Open campaign getting started this week, it is a very interesting concept of another step being taken in medicinal technological advances and only time will tell whether or not the “pod” is going to be a more favorable method of healing injuries and recovering from strenuous hours of work on the playing field for other top athletes.

What do you think about this revelation from Novak? Will it become the new go-to trend for athletic therapy? Comment below.

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The injury list for the US Open is growing by the day, so it is going to be a very interesting tournament. The only top male player not on the list is Roger Federer.

• Novak Djokovic – Shoulder and general fatigue. Has had some issues with patella tendinitis this season
• Rafael Nadal – Large burn blisters on fingers and left foot
• Andy Murray – Sore arm
• Mardy Fish – Heel
• Tomas Berdych – Shoulder
• Robin Soderling – Wrist – he has announced he will travel to NYC
• Jo Wilfried Tsonga – Arm. Ultrasound showed no muscle tear after he withdrew in Montreal.
• Andy Roddick – Recently pulled out of Montreal with an oblique but played in Cincinnati.
• Milos Raonic – Recovering from hip surgery
• David Ferrer – Recovering from hairline fracture in left hand
• Tommy Robredo – Withdrawn – Ongoing groin issues
• Sam Querrey – Withdrawn – Recovering from elbow surgery (spurs)
• Juan Carlos Ferrero – Recovering from multiple injuries

Womens injuries so far:

• Serena Williams – Aggravation of toe injury
• Andrea Petkovic – Torn meniscus
• Kim Clijsters – Withdrawn – Abdominal muscle tear
• Venus Williams – Recovering from virus

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Former world number one Andy Roddick has withdrawn from the Rogers Cup which is also known as the Montreal Masters. Andy has cited that he has an injured oblique muscle, making it the second week in a row that Roddick withdrew from an event. Roddick has been bothered by injuries over the past two years, and was forced to pull out of Roland Garros about two months ago with a shoulder injury.

A local Montreal newspaper also reported that world number five Robin Soderling has also withdrawn from the event with a wrist injury. Among others who have opted out of the tournament include Jurgen Melzer (quad), and Xavier Malisse (personal).

After losing in the 3rd round of Wimbledon to Feliciano Lopez and then playing Davis Cup, Roddick has not played since and was forced to withdraw from this week’s tournament in Washington. Luckily, he hasn’t got any points to defend at Montreal since he has also pulled out from from the tournament last year. He should be able to compete at the Cincinnati event the week after Montreal and has sent a message about his return on Twitter: ”Hopefully I’ll be ready for cincy in 10 days or so…. Fingers crossed.” Let’s hope Andy will make it to the Cincy event since he does have 360 semifinal points to defend there, and also will make an appearance at the new tournament in Winston-Salem, NC just before the last Grand Slam of the year (US Open).

Well, it is a pity that some of the best players in the world have cancelled their appearance at Montreal but there are still plenty more great players who should make up for it.

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Andy Roddick has had to withdraw from the Legg Mason tournament with a grade 2 strain or partial tear of the oblique abdominal muscle. The injury was suffered in practice, but hopefully it wont keep him out for upcoming tournaments and the US Open 2011.

“Make no mistake; it’s disappointing to lose a player of Andy’s caliber, especially in light of his success and many years of participation throughout his career here in DC,” said Tournament Director, Jeff Newman.

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