BRISBANE, Australia(AP) Dinara Safina has withdrawn from next month's Brisbane International because of a bad back, leaving her status for the Australian Open in doubt.
Safina, the former top-ranked player in the world, withdrew Friday from the Brisbane event, where she had hoped to return from injury and start tuning up for the first major of 2010.
The Sydney tournament will feature most of the women's top 10 in the week before the Australian Open, which starts Jan. 18 in Melbourne.
Safina tearfully withdrew from the WTA Championships with a serious back injury in October, a problem she originally thought could keep her out of the Australian Open. But she signed on for the Brisbane tournament only two days later.