Venus Williams out of Australian Open

The world number 48 re-injured her wrist causing her to withdraw from the first Grand Slam tournament of the season.

Former world number one Venus Williams withdrew from the Australian Open on Wednesday citing a left wrist injury.

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The world number 48 re-injured the wrist which caused her to pull out of tournaments in August and October last year.

Williams has never won the Australian Open with her best result a loss in the 2003 final to her sister Serena.

She was knocked out in the first round last year by Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova.

The year's first Grand Slam tournament, which starts in Melbourne on Monday, has already lost women's world number one Justine Henin-Hardenne because of personal problems.

Other big names Rafael Nadal (leg), Lleyton Hewitt (calf), Nikolay Davydenko (foot), Nadia Petrova (stomach) and Svetlana Kuznetsova (respiratory) have all withdrawn from lead-up events this week.