Mary Joe Fernandez confirmed what was expected Tuesday. When the United States tries to upset defending champion Italy on Nov. 6 and 7 in the Federation Cup finals in San Diego, her team will be made up of Melanie Oudin, rising star CoCo Vandeweghe, top-ranked doubles player Liezel Huber and Bethanie Mattek-Sands, who loves wearing knee-high tube socks, although they can't disguise her versatility as both a singles and doubles point scorer in the team format.

Until last week, Fernandez had held out hope that Serena Williams might tiptoe back onto the court after being out since Wimbledon because of a foot injury. But Williams announced that she needed a second surgery on the foot to repair damage done when she stepped on glass in a German restaurant, and Venus Williams already had put an end to her season by having minor surgery on a troublesome knee. So Fernandez chose Vandeweghe, whose ranking is now at 115.

Although other Americans have a better ranking (Vania King is 86, Jill Craybas is 100), Fernandez cited Vandeweghe's stellar late-season play and her evolving game.

"Her game has come a long way," Fernandez said. "She's developed a big game. She has a great style, big serve, heavy groundstrokes, she can slice, it's a different sort of game."

Oudin, who was a surprise U.S. Open quarterfinalist in 2009, made it into the low 40s early this season but has seen her ranking drop to No. 68.

Italy will counter with French Open champion Francesca Schiavone, who is ranked sixth in the world; Flavia Pennetta, who is 23rd (she cracked the top 10 in the late summer of 2009 after winning the WTA event in Carson), 38th-ranked Roberta Vinci and 42nd-ranked Sara Errani.

So, based on rankings, Italy will defend its title. The Italians beat the U.S in last year's finals on red clay in Italy, and Fernandez said home-court, home-surface advantage matters.

This will be the first time since 2000 that the U.S. has hosted a Federation Cup final.

-- Diane Pucin

Top photo: Melanie Oudin. Credit: Susan Mullane / US Presswire

Bottom photo: Coco Vandeweghe. Credit: Hiro Komae / EPA

 

Serena Williams officially put an end to her 2010 season on Tuesday by withdrawing from consideration for the U.S. Federation Cup team and from the WTA season-ending championships in Doha. In a statement, Williams also said she had a second medical procedure Monday morning to repair her right foot, which was injured in an accident last July in which she said she stepped on broken glass in a German restaurant.

"It is with deep frustration that I am withdrawing from the WTA Championships at Doha and the Fed Cup Final," Williams said. "Pushed by my desire to return to competition, I trained too hard too soon and re-tore the tendon in my foot. As a result, yesterday morning I had to have another procedure to repair it. I thank everyone for their continued support during this difficult time and look forward with strength and determination to getting back on the court.”

Williams re-tore the tendon while preparing to play in a tournament in Linz, Austria, last week. That would have been her first appearance since winning Wimbledon last July.

As of now, Williams' next scheduled appearance is at the Hopman Cup in Perth, Australia, Jan. 1-8, where she and John Isner will represent the United States in the mixed-team competition. They are seeded second behind Serbia, which will be represented by Novak Djokovic and Ana Ivanovic. Williams is the defending champion of the Australian Open.

-- Diane Pucin

Photo: Serena Williams. Credit: Anja Niedringhaus / Associated Press

When Serena Williams is hurt or taking a large chunk of time away from tennis, the best thing the WTA Tour has going for it are the arguments that get unleashed when the computer rankings move someone ahead of Serena as the No. 1 player in the world.

It happened Monday when Caroline Wozniacki, who has won five of her last seven tournaments but who is still probably best known for finishing second at the 2009 U.S. Open, passed Serena to become No. 1. That is a ranking she is certain to keep now that Williams has said her 2010 season is over because of a foot injury.

Williams hasn't played a tournament since winning Wimbledon last July. She has played only six tournaments this year. But her overall match record is 25-4 and she won two of the three major tournaments she entered -- the Australian Open and Wimbledon. And Williams went almost unchallenged in those major championships.

Wozniacki has played 21 tournaments this year. Her match record is 59-15 and she has won six tournaments. But at the majors this year, Wozniacki got no further than semifinals (U.S. Open) and twice lost in the fourth round (Wimbledon and Australian Open).

The same happened in 2009 when Dinara Safina surpassed Williams despite not having a major championship on her resume and despite having suffered a 6-0, 6-3 drubbing by Williams in the Australian Open final that season.

The question was, do you believe the rankings or your eyes?

If you had to put your life savings on the outcome of a match between Williams and Safina, who would you have picked? And come next January, when, if Williams is back and healthy and plays Wozniacki in the finals of the Australian Open, what would you trust? The computer? Or your eyes?

Let the debate begin -- again.

Should the computer rankings reflect more heavily overall results or majors? Should the tournament directors at the majors seed the singles draw based only on the computer? Because one suspects that if a poll were to be taken in January asking players who they'd rather face in any given round at the first big tournament of the year, Wozniacki or Williams, the answers would not agree with the computer.

-- Diane Pucin

 

Serena Williams is no longer the world's No. 1 women's tennis player.

She lost that ranking to Denmark's Caroline Wozniacki on Monday, the day after Williams announced that she is pulling out of a tournament in Linz, Austria, and is probably finished playing tennis for the rest of the year.

A foot injury has kept Williams from playing since July, when she won her fourth Wimbledon title. Williams wrote on her website Sunday that she aggravated the injury while training for her return to competitive tennis.

"I am likely out for the year now," Williams said on her website. "I was really looking forward to beginning my comeback in Linz, followed by the year-end championships in Doha, [Qatar]. I feel completely heartbroken, and devastated, but knowing I will never be given more than I can handle I plan on coming back stronger and better."

Williams was the top-ranked woman for 49 weeks. Wozniacki moved into the top spot on the same day she won the China Open with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 victory over Vera Zvonareva of Russia.

Last week Williams' sister, Venus, announced that she will not play for the rest of 2010 because of a knee injury. Venus Williams dropped from third to fourth in the latest world rankings.

-- Chuck Schilken

Photo: Serena Williams celebrates a point win over Vera Zvonareva during their women's singles final at Wimbledon. Credit: Alastair Grant / Associated Press

Vera Zvonareva, who is known more for her emotional outbursts than for her sometimes creatively aggressive tennis, ignored blowing hot dog wrappers, stopped and waited for new rackets after she mashed the strings of all four she had brought to the court in less than a set and a half and then celebrated with a sweet squeal after her authoritative 6-4, 6-3 U.S. Open semifinal victory over top-seeded and 2009 U.S. Open runner-up Caroline Wozniacki Friday afternoon.

Zvonareva, a 26-year-old from Russia, will play the winner of Friday's second semifinal between second-seeded and defending champion Kim Clijsters and third-seeded and two-time champion Venus Williams. Zvonareva played in the Wimbledon final in July where she lost to Serena Williams who has sat out this Open after having foot surgery. The women's final is Saturday night.

Despite the continuing windy conditions on the Arthur Ashe Stadium Court, Zvonareva stayed resolutely aggressive, putting pressure on the tentative Wozniacki. It was Zvonareva who was willing to serve and volley or rush ahead to smash overheads. She accepted some errors for the big winners and afterward wasn't willing to rehash Wimbledon where she was beaten badly in the finals.

"I am wanting to celebrate this win now and not talk about the past," said Zvonareva, who had famously collapsed at last year's Open where she lost six match points and her emotional stability as she wept and ripped athletic tape off her knees in a night match.

-- Diane Pucin in New York

Fourth-seeded Jelena Jankovic found nothing to her liking Saturday afternoon at Arthur Ashe Stadium during her U.S. Open match. She was bothered by the wind that gusted to 22 miles per hour, and she would scream to her box, "I can't do anything." She complained about a sore ankle that has bothered her most of the summer, though when it was suggested maybe Jankovic shouldn't play, she scowled and said she'll always play.

So in a women's draw already missing its biggest presence, Serena Williams (foot injury) and Williams' biggest nemesis (Justine Henin, elbow injury) it seemed that maybe the fourth-seeded Jankovic might find an appropriate spot to win her first major tournament.

Instead, Jankovic was knocked off the court by Estonia's Kaia Kanepi, who had made her biggest impression at a Wimbledon where she was a quarterfinalist. This time Kanepi finds herself in the fourth round of the Open after her 6-2, 7-6 (1) upset over Jankovic. Kanepi, seeded 31st, said recent improvement in her footwork helped her deal with Saturday's blustery conditions.

"I have to be ready when I prepare, that I move a few more steps," Kanepi said. "I don't know which direction, but my feet have to be in position early."

Instead Jankovic used the weather as the excuse for her quick and sullen departure. "It was really tough to play tennis,' she said. "It's tough to serve, tough to hit the balls. The balls move all over the place and I had a really hard time over there. Unfortunately, I lost."

On the other hand, 14th-seeded Maria Sharapova was almost imperious in her 6-0, 6-0 dismissal of 18-year-old qualifier Beatrice Capra. Capra, who is working under the guidance of Chris Evert at the Evert Tennis Academy in Boca Raton, Fla., admitted she was a bit overwhelmed by the occasion as well as Sharapova's focused and powerful game. Sharapova has now won 12 of 14 matches she's played since Wimbledon, where she gave Serena Williams her toughest battle of the tournament.

And sweeping away Capra, who said she enjoyed the experience and hoped to be back next year with a better grasp of what it takes to play in a major tournament, set up one of the most anticipated women's fourth-round matches, as top-seeded and 2009 runner-up Caroline Wozniacki, an equally unchallenged third-round winner, won 6-1, 6-0 over Yung-Jan Chen.

-- Diane Pucin reporting from New York

Photo: Jelena Jankovic lets out a yell during a moment of frustration on Saturday. Credit: Paul J. Bereswill / Associated Press

Top-ranked Serena Williams, who has won two of the three major tournaments already played this season, isn't in this draw, though she would have been the top-seeded player and heavy favorite at the U.S. Open, which is in Day 2.

Her health has been a mystery ever since she reportedly suffered some sort of accident in a German restaurant or bar (in Munich, maybe, on the day Germany was eliminated from the World Cup) right before she went to play an exhibition match against Kim Clijsters. Clijsters had beaten Williams in the Open semifinals last year in a match that ended famously with Williams losing her temper and her composure and ultimately being defaulted from the match and eventually being fined for $90,000. Williams played the exhibition, though by all accounts she didn't move well. Then she came home to the United States.

Williams has released no information other than that her foot was cut and she needed surgery. Was the surgery on the foot? Even that hasn't been clear.

Williams was spotted periodically this summer after the surgery wearing a walking boot (at the Farmers Classic men's tournament in Los Angeles, for example, and at a Nike event in New York last week (where she was described alternately as walking well sometimes and with a limp sometimes). Before the surgery, she was spotted wearing stiletto heels (on the red carpet at the ESPY Awards at Staples Center) and at a pre-ESPY party at her Los Angeles house, where all that could be seen was a small bandage.

Defending U.S. Open champion Kim Clijsters won her opening-round match Monday, 6-0, 7-5, over Greta Arn of Hungary. The match was not without peril for Clijsters -- she trailed 4-0 in the second set before slapping herself on the thigh, settling down and placing her groundstrokes deeper into the court and with more creativity.

"I wasn't aggressive enough," Clijsters said. "I think she started going for a little bit more, playing a little bit more with some risks and she kind of put me under pressure a little bit where it should have been the other way around."

And the Belgian added a little mystery to the Serena Williams foot injury. Top-ranked Williams is missing the Open because of a cut foot. At least that's all that's been said, that Serena has a single cut foot. The injury was suffered in a German restaurant sometime shortly after Wimbledon and involved broken glass. After suffering the injury, Williams, a last-minute replacement for Justine Henin, who injured herself at Wimbledon, played an exhibition against Clijsters in Belgium.

Clijsters said she saw the injury. Clijsters was asked if the injury was on the top or bottom of Serena's foot and Clijsters said, "Both, both feet."

She was asked, "On both feet?" and Clijsters said, "Yeah."

So the mystery deepens. Williams has been occasionally seen wearing a walking boot on her right foot and hadn't indicated her left foot was involved.

-- Diane Pucin in New York

Photo: Kim Clijsters smiles after hitting an autographed ball into the crowd at the U.S. Open on Monday. Credit: Susan Mullane / U.S. Presswire

When top-ranked Serena Williams, who has already won the Australian Open and Wimbledon this year, withdrew last week from the U.S. Open because of a foot injury (she cut it on glass at a restaurant shortly after Wimbledon), the women's draw became more unpredictable than any other in recent memory.

Caroline Wozniacki, who is ranked second in the world and is coming off a big hardcourt tournament win at Montreal, where she beat Wimbledon finalist Vera Zvonareva and La Costa winner Svetlana Kuznetsova on her way to the championship, and who was the 2009 Open runner-up, is seeded first with 2009 champion Kim Clijsters seeded second.

Two-time Open champion Venus Williams, whose most recent title at Flushing Meadow was in 2001, is seeded third, and Jelena Jankovic, the 2008 Open runner-up, is the fourth-seeded player.

The draw will take place Thursday at 9 a.m. PDT and will be televised live on ESPN2.

-- Diane Pucin

Photo: Caroline Wozniacki in the Rogers Cup final on Monday. Credit: Dave Sidaway / Postmedia News / MCT

World No. 1 Serena Williams will not play in the U.S. Open later this month because she is still recovering from cutting her foot last month.

According to the Associated Press, Williams' agent and the U.S. Tennis Association confirmed the withdrawal Friday.

Williams has 13 Grand Slam titles, including three at Flushing Meadows. Last year, she lost in the semifinals and made headlines with her tirade at a line judge over a foot-fault call.

The U.S. Open will take place Aug. 30 to Sept. 12.

-- Chuck Schilken

Photo: Serena Williams in July. Virginie LeFour / EPA

In its quest to win its first Fed Cup in a decade, the U.S. will have the help of its two top players.

Serena and Venus Williams, ranked Nos. 1 and 4 in the world, respectively, have committed to representing the U.S. when it takes on Italy in the Fed Cup final Nov. 6 and 7 at the San Diego Sports Arena, the USTA and team captain Mary Joe Fernandez announced Thursday.

Neither one of the Williams sisters have played in the World Cup since 2007. They will join the core group of Melanie Oudin, Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Liezel Huber.

"As captain, you always want to have your best players. I am very excited that Venus and Serena have made themselves available for the Fed Cup Final in San Diego," said Fernandez, who led the U.S. to its first final appearance since 2003 last year.

"Teaming Venus and Serena with Melanie, who continues to play an integral role in all of our Fed Cup matches, Bethanie, who has come through in decisive matches, and Liezel, who has been crucial in our doubles, we have one of the strongest line-ups in years. I strongly believe that this team can win the Fed Cup title on our home soil."

The U.S. is looking to claim its first Fed Cup since winning back-to-back titles in 1999 (4-1 over Russia) and 2000 (5-0 over Spain). To do so, Fernandez's team will have to avenge a 4-0 loss to Italy in last year's final.

-- Chuck Schilken

Photo: Venus, left, and Serena Williams at Wimbledon in June. Credit: Felipe Trueba / European Pressphoto Agency

The 2010 Federation Cup final between the United States and Italy will be held at San Diego Sports Arena on Nov. 6 and 7. Italy beat the United States in Italy last year so this is a revenge match and U.S. Coach Mary Joe Fernandez came to the Mercury Insurance Open Tuesday to talk about the rematch.

One of the first questions, as always, was whether she is hopeful either Serena or Venus Williams, the world's first- and third-ranked players, might make themselves available for the finals. They haven't played this year in the first two rounds with the U.S. team that has been anchored by Melanie Oudin, Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Liezel Huber, the world's top-ranked doubles player.

While the Williams sisters (pictured above at Wimbledon) don't necessarily have a burning desire to play in the Federation Cup, they are always enthusiastic about the Olympics, and Olympic rules say that a player must make herself available for Fed Cup play twice during every four-year Olympic cycle and one of those appearances must be in the year before or during the Olympics. Venus and Serena haven't made themselves available for any Fed Cup team since the 2008 Beijing Games.

If either sister played in San Diego they would then need to play once more in 2011 and 2012 to be eligible for the 2012 London Olympics, where the sisters have said they'd like to play singles, doubles and mixed doubles. If neither plays San Diego, they will have to volunteer in each of the next two years.

Fernandez said she expects to speak to the Williams sisters next week. "My  pitch is that I'd love to have them play, they're the best in the world, it's a thrill to have a core team be around them." Fernandez said that no matter what, Oudin, Mattek-Sands and Huber would be on the team, though that wouldn't mean they would play. "Melanie looks up to the sisters tremendously," Fernandez said.

Also, Fernandez said, based on the results of Lindsay Davenport's doubles play last week at Stanford, where she and Huber won the title, she would be open to adding Davenport to a team. "That's something I have to consider. But she would have to be willing to be able to play singles if someone got injured."

The Italian team has two top-15 singles players in Flavia Pennetta and 2010 French Open champion Francesca Schiavone to anchor their team.

Tickets for the Fed Cup will go on sale Aug. 20. It will be the first Fed Cup final played in the United States in 10 years.

-- Diane Pucin

Photo credit: Felipe Trueba / EPA