Venus Williams says on Twitter that she is "absolutely planning on being in Australia" to play the Australian Open. Williams has not played since the U.S. Open, when she withdrew from her second-round match against Sabine Lisicki with Sjögren's Syndrome. She is currently ranked No. 101 and has only played four tournaments this year. However. she has no points to defend from 2010, so if her ranking stays more or less the same, she will get directly into the Australian Open main draw.