Injured Venus out of Australian Open

Former world number one Venus Williams has been left to dwell on yet another aborted Grand Slam title tilt after pulling out of next week's Australian Open.

An Australian Open official told Reuters on Wednesday that Williams had withdrawn from the first Grand Slam of 2007 because of a left wrist injury.

Williams, 26, reached the final of the Australian Open in 2003, losing to younger sister Serena, but has not made it past the fourth round at Melbourne Park since.

Venus, currently ranked 48 in the world, joins world number one Justine Henin-Hardenne among the absentees from this year's event, starting on Monday.

Questions about her long-term future in the sport will again come to the fore as the Open will be the second successive slam the American would have missed after a wrist problem also prevented her from travelling to Flushing Meadows last August.

With Venus also occupied with various off-court interests, the latest setback could just turn out to be the catalyst which pushes her a step closer to turning her back on the sport which has earned her over $16 million in prize money.

Since winning the last of her five Grand Slam titles at Wimbledon in July 2005, Williams has been plagued with a multitude of elbow and wrist injuries.

She has struggled with her form and last season failed to win a title for the first time since 1997.

A first-round exit in Melbourne Park was followed by quarter-final and third round defeats at Roland Garros and Wimbledon respectively.

Coupled with her injuries, her hunger to win titles also seems to have dwindled because whereas she used to be distraught with her defeats before, she now takes them in her stride.

After winning successive Wimbledon and US Open titles in 2000 and 2001, Williams went on to lose four successive slam finals to Serena between 2002-03.

Irked at being upstaged by her younger sister, she could not contain her joy when she finally ended her four-year grand slam drought at the All England Club in 2005 with victory over Lindsay Davenport.

That may well turn out to be the last time the Venus would have had the chance to hold aloft a winner's trophy.

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