Agassi, Davenport Question Marks for Australian Open

Posted on January 13, 2005

Injury clouds continue to roll into Melbourne, site of the Australia Open centenary celebration which begins on Monday. But the celebration may not last long as several top players have been plagued by injury this already this season, most recently today in former champions Andre Agassi and Lindsay Davenport.

Agassi's playing status is now in jepoardy after injuring his hip Thursday during an exhibition match against Andy Roddick in Kooyang.

It remains unclear if the injury, which led Agassi to retire trailing 5-6 to his American counterpart Andy Roddick, is the same hip problem that forced the former No. 1 to withdraw from Wimbledon last year.

Agassi is a four-time winner in Melbourne and has a tour-best 44-4 record at the park. He has remarkably reached the fourth round or better in all eight of his Australian Open appearances.

At the WTA event in Sydney, Davenport withdrew from her quarterfinal match Thursday against Australian Samantha Stosur suffering from a case of bronchitis.

Davenport, the current World No. 1 and 2000 Australian Open champion, is still expecting to play and honor her No. 1 seeding.

The two women's finalist from last year - Justine Henin-Hardenne and Kim Clijsters - have already withdrawn from the tournament, as has Australian favorite Mark Philippoussis.

The draw for both the men's and women's field will be released Friday afternoon in Melbourne.