Serena Williams insists that her sister Venus will be fit enough to represent the USA in their Fed Cup clash against Belarus later this month.

The 31-year-old five-time Wimbledon champion has not played any competitive tennis since she was forced to pull out of last year US Open because of an autoimmune disease.

“She’s coming along awesome. She’s doing really well,” said Serena Williams. “She doesn’t want to take it too fast, to come back too soon. But she’s been training every day recently, so I know she’s going to be ready.”

Serena, who has not played in the Fed Cup since 2007, will be one of Venus’ team-mates against a Belarus side that will include the new number one and Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka. Fans of Betfair tennis will be hoping she gets back to her best.

“We’ve played on the same team a few times. We always have a blast. We always make the best of everything,” Serena added.

Serena lost in the fourth round of last month’s Australian Open to Ekaterina Makarova, two weeks after withdrawing from a warm-up tournament in Brisbane with a left ankle injury.

However, she is pleased with the way her body is recovering from the injury, saying: “I’ve actually been doing pretty well. I hit some balls. I trained a little bit. Every day it’s feeling better. It’s not 100 per cent. But it’s better than it was last week and two weeks ago. It just needs time to heal.”

Christina McHale, who reached the third round of last year’s US Open, doubles expert Liezel Huber and Sloane Stephens make up the rest of the American team. Those looking at the betting need to bear this in mind.

Azarenka’s team-mates will be Anastasia Yakimova, Olga Govortsova and Darya Kustova, the number 63, 114 and 650 singles players in the world.

Detroit Lions general manager Martin Mayhew admits that he wishes the franchise had dealt with Ndamukong Suh’s on-field behaviour he was handed a suspension following his Thanksgiving day stamp against the green Bay Packers.

The NFL suspended the defensive tackle for two games after he stamped on Packers’ offensive lineman Evan Dietrich-Smith right arm in the Lions 27-15 defeat in Green Bay. Those looking at the NFL odds will have been shocked by his actions.

Suh only had six penalties, a disqualification and three more personal fouls in the Lions’ first 11 games and had no personal fouls since the incident.

Suh incurred further furore when he initially refused to apologise for his unprovoked outburst leading to both him and his team coming in for further criticism. Those looking ahead to the Betfair Super Bowl 2012 will not have been impressed.

Mayhew now admits that the club could maybe have handle the situation better but believes the episode has made the 25-year-old a better person.

“It’s funny how things go. I think, early on, he had a couple of borderline sort of plays and, looking back on it, probably not enough people talked to him in those situations. And then when this thing happened, probably too many people talked to him,” Mayhew said.

“He had everybody — the guy driving the bus to the games had an opinion on what Ndamukong needed to do. I got letters from every sports psychologist and counsellor in the Detroit metro area.

“Ndamukong’s a very, very intelligent person, intelligent football player.”

He added that he hoped the player would put things behind him and he would go in to become even better than he is now.

Her boyfriend Rory McIlroy may have spent the last year enjoying success at the top level of his sport despite not quite making it to the number one ranking in the world, but tennis ace Caroline Wozniacki can, in many ways, be seen as representing the polar opposite of this, with Wozniacki pretty much doing nothing to grab the sporting headlines except achieve top place in the rankings.

Ok, so there is little doubting that this is certainly an achievement of sorts, but Wozniacki would surely trade her position and title as top in the world for just one precious Grand Slam victory. People looking for the Best websites to bet on Australian open 2012 should bear this in mind.

With the player forced to experience the pain of seeing all of her previous attempts fizzle out unsuccessfully, Wozniacki has started to find herself labelled as just a stop gap measure at the top of the rankings, a player who is only sitting pretty at the top because nobody else has managed to take control in what is turning out to be a very weak era in women’s tennis, with even the once dominant Williams sisters struggling to prove their dominance. Those looking for Tennis £25 Free bets should remember this.

Although Wozniacki doesn’t want to continue to be labelled as the number one who has never proved she is a number one, the fact of the matter is that she has put in the time and effort to earn a Grand Slam win; now, she just needs that necessary element of luck to take her over the finishing line and hand her the confidence to put together a winning season.

If she can do this out in Australia, not only will Mr McIlroy be delighted, but Miss Wozniacki will also have earned something that her fans and many members of the press would like to see: some pride restored to the sport of women’s tennis.

Venus Williams has been forced to pull out of the upcoming Australian Open due to health problems stemming from Sjogren’s Syndrome, an auto-immune disease she was diagnosed with shortly before the US Open last year.

The decision from the American star to pull out of the Aussie event represents the latest setback for the 31-year-old after a difficult seven months in the sport. Williams hasn’t played competitively since she was diagnosed with the auto-immune disease but remains optimistic that she’ll be able to make a return to the court next month. People looking at the Betfair Australian open tennis odds should bear this in mind.

Clearly the diet and fitness regime the player has been placed on to try to overcome the effects of her disease is boosting her health in some ways, but no doubt making it extremely difficult to keep up with the vigorous demands that training for participation in the WTA circuit entails, and it seems likely that her slip down the rankings (the player is now ranked 100th, an almost unbelievable stat given her standing in women’s tennis over the past decade or so) is going to continue at least until late February or early March. Those looking at the tennis odds should remember this.

For Williams, the personal battles against her health demons will no doubt continue, an unfortunate fact that nevertheless probably hands renewed hope to a few of the younger, less experienced players on the circuit hoping to break into the spotlight this year, but if there’s one thing you know about both Venus and her sister Serena, who has also had a tough 12 months, it’s that neither player will go down to health and injury battles without one heck of a fight.

Organisers have confirmed nine of the world’s top 10 women tennis stars will play in next month’s Apia International in Sydney.

The players are currently enjoying a well-earned but short break from tournament tennis, but are already preparing for the new season.

The top ladies stars are set to return to action as soon as the festive period is over, to prepare for the upcoming Australian Open – the first major event of 2012.

The year’s opening Grand Slam gets underway on January 16 and stars of the men’s and women’s game will begin their preparations Down Under in the week leading up to the event. Those following the Tennis 2012 Australian open betting should remember this.

The top two in the world rankings – Caroline Wozniacki and Petra Kvitova – had already declared their intention to make an appearance at the tournament earlier in December.

Now world number three Victoria Azarenka has been added to the strong field, with the world’s top three-ranked stars will contest the event from January 8-14.

Maria Sharapova is the only member of the current top 10 who will not be in New South Wales, having opted to fine-tune her game in Brisbane. Defending Australian Open champion Kim Clijsters has opted to join the Russian in Queensland. Anyone with a tennis betting bonus should bear this in mind.

Tournament director Craig Watson was delighted with the line-up and feels that the event is the best way to prepare for Melbourne Park.

He said: “The women’s event has again attracted the world’s best and with last year’s women’s finalists going on to play in the Australian Open final, the Apia International Sydney is the perfect preparation for the season’s first Grand Slam.”

French Open winner Li Na, US Open champion Sam Stosur, two-time Grand slam finalist Vera Zvonareva, 2007 Wimbledon runner-up Marion Bartoli and Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska make up the stellar field.

The seeds for the Australian Open are not yet known, but one player looms large in the list of likely non-seeds. Venus Williams does not have a suitably strong Melbourne record to have her 104th place in the rankings ignored, so the seven-time slam winner is the nightmare prospective opening opponent for top players optimistic of success in what should be a wide-open tournament.

There will be few other former top players recovering from injury or loss of form tucked away in the draw, which is not the case in the men’s event. Shahar Pe’er, Aravane Rezai and Elena Dokic have spent some time in the top 15 of the rankings – the former two were seeded at Melbourne in 2011 – but inconsistency plagues them and each will have to be near their best to upset a big name. Those looking at the Tennis Australian Open betting should remember this.

The biggest threat to the established players therefore comes from the young guns. 20-year-old Ksenia Pervak finished this season strongly, winning a maiden WTA title at Tashkent to lift her ranking to number 39. A junior champion downunder two years ago, the Russian lefthander is certainly one to watch.

Polona Hercog is also20-years-old with one senior single title in the bag. She has been on the cusp of the top 30 for some time, but has struggled to make an impact at slams away from the clay of Paris, but has the game to cause problems against the big names. The womens singles tennis betting reflects this.

Hercog lost to Anastasija Sevastova at Melbourne last year, who went on to make the closest thing to a major breakthrough by a female at the event. She beat 21stseed Yanina Wickmayer on the way to a fourth round exit at the hands of Caroline Wozniacki and although the Latvian has not built on that success, her confidence should be high at the scene of her best career achievements.

Robin Soderling has been forced to withdraw from the 2012 Australian Open, as the Swede continues his recover from glandular fever.

The former world number four has not played a competitive match since July – when he featured in the Swedish Open in Bastad.

After winning that event, Soderling then spent a spell on the sidelines with a wrist injury and then contracted the illness that led to him pulling out of the US Open.
The 27-year-old was expected to return before the end of the year but his recovery has taken longer than originally thought, with a Melbourne return now ruled out. Those looking at the 2012 Australian Open betting will be disappointed by his absence.

Speaking on his Facebook page, Soderling said: “I am very sorry for being away for so long and for not giving many updates but my recovery has been longer than expected.

“I am feeling better with each day but it will still take some time before I can start practicing in full speed.”

During his lengthy absence, Soderling has slipped to 13 in the world rankings, but the two-time French Open finalist is hoping for a successful return in the New Year. Those with a Betfair Tennis £25 Free Bet will be wishing him a speedy recovery.

He added: “My goal is to start with practice in January and I hope for a tournament comeback in February. But at this stage, it is hard to know when and where. I hope my body will allow me to do that.”

The Australian Open is a tournament Soderling has struggled in during his career, with his best performance coming in 2011, when he reached the fourth round.

Both Spain and Argentina have both named unchanged sides for the Davis Cup final to be played in Seville next month.

The tie will takes place between December 2-4 and Spain captain Albert Costa has the luxury of naming an almost perfect line-up for the indoor clay courts of the Olympic Stadium.

The Spaniards will be led by former world number one Rafael Nadal while world number five David Ferrer is expected to take part in the other singles rubbers.
The side is completed by Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco who will take part in the doubles on Saturday in what on paper looks like an incredible side. Those looking at the betting should remember this.

Their opponents Argentina will go into the match as massive underdogs and most of their hopes will rest upon the broad shoulders of the resurgent Juan Martin Del Porto. The former US Open winner has had a difficult few seasons with injury but now looks back to somewhere near his best and will be expecting to cause his opponents some major problems as his team look to win their first Davis Cup crown after previously finishing as runners-up on three occasions including a loss to Spain in 2008.He will be joined by former Wimbledon finalist David Nalbandian in the singles while the pair of Juan Monaco and Juan Ignacio Chela will pair up in the doubles. Anyone following the tennis betting should bear this in mind.

Argentina captain Tito Vasquez admits they’re massive underdogs ahead of the tie but feels the time could be right for his team to spring a massive upset.
Vazquez said: “I think we are in our best moment as a team. Juan Martin has been training twice a day and these players were born on clay.”Day one is the key. Nadal is a tough nut, he’s a motivator and very good for his team-mates. If we’re 1-1 at the end of day one we’ll have a real chance of taking the trophy” he added.

The line-up for the ATP World Tour Finals has been confirmed, after Tomas Berdych, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Mardy Fish secured the last three spots.

The end-of-season tournament is the world’s biggest indoor tennis event, where the top eight players are drawn to play a minimum of three round-robin matches, which determines which four players and teams advance to the knockout semi-finals.

The world’s top five players, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray, Roger Federer and David Ferrer, had already booked their place in the London event and the last places have now been taken so anyone betting on tennis now knows the full line up.

Czech star Berdych sealed his spot at the O2 Arena, with a 7-5 6-4 success over Janko Tipsarevic in the third round of the Paris Masters.

The 2010 Wimbledon finalist has reached the season finale for the second consecutive year and described the achievement as “amazing”.

Meanwhile, world number Tsonga, who will be in London due to the absence of Robin Soderling, made certain of his place with a straight sets win over Andreas Seppi in the French capital.

The Frenchman, who defeated Federer at Wimbledon, has won two ATP Tour events this year and will pose an unpredictable challenge for any player. People thinking of betting ATP tour money should remember this.

Tsonga insisted: “When I was playing well at Wimbledon, I believed already I could make it because I knew I would get back to an acceptable ranking.”

After a season to remember, Mardy Fish will make up the eight-man line-up and will be the only American player in London from November 20.