It's ok, it made me laugh.

At least Kerber has stepped up to fill the void. And she can actually beat Serena too. That will always go against Maria, she's a great 2nd seed but can't get past Serena. I've honestly missed her though, she's a big presence on tour.

I miss Maria on the tour as she was a 'bye' for Serena whenever they met. Serena struggles with some of the others, so Sharapova's return can not come quick enough for me.

The Brits are well spread in week 1:

Andy begins the season in Doha, Edmund in Brisbane, Bedene in Chennai, Konta plays Shenzhen, Broady is in Auckland, Robson & Moore playing an ITF event in Hong Kong (Tara's birthplace).

Merry Christmas everyone!

Hopefully 2017 can get back to some normality, the drama and chaos of 2016 definitely deserves this reaction - and this - Oh the fun we can have with rolly eyes back in town.

OMG rollyeyes is back let the chaos resume

How can you not want her back

Nah. think a sharapova discussion not one for festive cheer, and I'm sure it'll cause huge acrimony in the coming year.

Merry Xmas all and let's just hope it's a less turbulent next year in every way, and many predictions of misery will hopefully be proven wrong, and it won't be a complete year. Talking about great matches and great stories.

David Law saying on Twitter that Nick Kyrgios will play doubles with Dan Evans at the Australian Open - pleased about this, have never seen Nick enjoy his tennis as much as when he played with Dan.

Just seen that Petra has given a press conference in Prague, can't find a video but here are a couple of pictures. The bandages on her hand are massive.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/spo...fe-attack.html

Apparently best case scenario is 6 months out.

Seems like they still havent found that lame fugly bastard

She seemed in good spirits by all accounts apparently. I guess the size of the bandages is to stop any pressure at all being accidentally applied to the hand and fingers, in her sleep etc and allow it all to heal. When I broke my arm I had to sleep with it suspended in the air for a few days to allow it to set whilst I was in hospital.

Kei sent Vika a lovely bouquet of flowers to congratulate her on the new baby.

Saw this on my timeline as well, first potential bit of tennis 2017 quirkiness!

I think I've only just realised what happened, reading the report of her pulling the knife away from her throat. It's obvious now why it was her playing hand. As well as being someone all the players speak well of, she is one tough lady and deserves to make a full recovery and get her life back. I can't help but think she probably stopped someone else getting killed as most people wouldn't have her quick reactions and strength.

It certainly seems good news from Petra, she's incredibly positive, amazingly so, and being so happy about moving her hand really does mean there was a possible prognosis that she wouldn't be able too.

In the end I think she's happy to be alive and that she'll be playing tennis before the year's out.

Didn't your arm go to sleep?

It looks like her fingers are being held in position under there. Or it's like a cone that dog's have to stop her touching anything with her fingers.


Yeah it's grim. This is a bit random but in the first Game of Thrones book a character is attacked with a knife and ends up grabbing it with her hand. It was stomach churning then, and that was fiction! Pretty graphically described though. When I read about Petra, I immediately thought of it. Just horrible.

So relieved after seeing Petra in her PC. Couldn't believe she was laughing so much.

What a woman she is - such an inspiration. She's one in a million is our Petra Most of the top women have sent good wishes to her, apart from Serena and Maria Even Rafa and Magnus Norman sent tweets.


MERRY XMAS TO EVERYONE

I was only about 5-6 at the time, I was probably too high on meds to care.

Lol, that's the best way in that situation. I only ask because I have woken up in the night before, unable to find my arm. I had put it above my head in my sleep and it went numb so I lost it. Scared me for a second while I was half asleep lol.

Madison Keys out of the Oz Open now, with 4th round points to protect not great for her.

Wrist surgery as well. I know I give her a tough time, but it's not nice to see her fitness woes and especially something like the wrist which helps generate the immense power of her groundstrokes.

AO is looking a bit threadbare already and the season hasn't started yet.

So that's Delpo, Keys and Kvitova out of Melbourne so far. Obviously Azarenka has just given birth and Maria still on.. sick leave, so a good few absences. Very excited for what 2017 has in store, there's no way of predicting it really.

In better news, Li Na gave birth to her second child! A baby boy, born 27th November. I wonder will we be waiting long for baby #3?

Oh and speaking of babies, here's Vika's one!

Just read about Madison Keys. She's back with Lindsay Davenport as her coach

It's great to see her looking so good, and it sounds as if the operation was a success as far as you can tell at this stage. I think the hard bit for her will come once Christmas is over, and all of her peers are back playing in tournaments, and she's got time to get bored and think about how she could have died, and what if her hand doesn't recover.

The advantage is that she was already going to miss the Hopman Cup because of her ankle injury, so she can convince herself this will help that to recover fully, and deal with all of those other niggles that tennis players have. A lot of her friends on tour will have experience of having operations and not fully knowing how long it will take to recover, so that may help. However, the whole experience of having an intruder in your home and having to physically fight them off with your bare hands is bound to haunt her.

Merry Christmas everyone

I was shocked and saddened by what has happened to Petra Kvitova although that's the world we live in these days

I wish her well, she is one of my favourite female players and I hope she is able to resume her career successfully. It brings back memories of Monica Seles

Taylor Fritz and his child bride are expecting in January.

Doing a bit of maths, I guess that explains the gunshot wedding.

Oh dear God. It's sad people still feel they have to marry before having a baby. I hope it all works out for them though, especially now there's a child involved.

Meanwhile, Alison Van Uytvanck has withdrawn from the Australian Open, so they're cancelling the tournament.

oh my....

What was Ana's announcement, anyone know?


miaow!