AUS OPEN 2012: Venus Withdraws; Seeds Announced

7-time major champion Venus Williams announced today via Twitter that she is withdrawing from the 2012 Australian Open. Venus is now ranked #100 on the WTA Tour.

Also, today the seedings on the Men's and Women's singles were released, generally following the current world rankings:

1. Djokovic, Novak (SRB); 2. Nadal, Rafael (ESP); 3. Federer, Roger (SUI); 4. Murray, Andy (GBR); 5. Ferrer, David (ESP); 6. Tsonga, Jo-Wilfried (FRA); 7. Berdych, Tomas (CZE); 8. Fish, Mardy (USA); 9. Tipsarevic, Janko (SRB); 10. Almagro, Nicolas (ESP); 11. Del Potro, Juan Martin(ARG);12. Simon, Gilles (FRA); 13. Dolgopolov, Alexandr (UKR); 14. Monfils, Gael (FRA); 15. Roddick, Andy (USA); 16. Isner, John (USA); 17. Gasquet, Richard (FRA); 18. Lopez, Feliciano (ESP); 19. Troicki, Viktor (SRB); 20. Mayer, Florian (GER); 21. Wawrinka, Stanislas (SUI); 22. Verdasco, Fernando (ESP); 23. Raonic, Milos (CAN); 24. Nishikori, Kei (JPN); 25. Monaco, Juan (ARG); 26. Granollers, Marcel (ESP); 27. Chela, Juan Ignacio (ARG); 28. Ljubicic, Ivan (CRO); 29. Stepanek, Radek (CZE); 30. Anderson, Kevin (RSA); 31. Melzer, Jurgen (AUT); 32. Bogomolov Jr., Alex (RUS).


1. Wozniacki, Caroline (DEN); 2. Kvitova, Petra (CZE); 3. Azarenka, Victoria (BLR); 4. Sharapova, Maria (RUS); 5. Li, Na (CHN); 6. Stosur, Samantha (AUS); 7. Zvonareva, Vera (RUS); 8. Radwanska, Agnieszka (POL); 9. Bartoli, Marion (FRA); 10. Petkovic, Andrea (GER); 11. Schiavone, Francesca (ITA); 12. Clijsters, Kim (BEL); 13. Williams, Serena (USA); 14. Jankovic, Jelena (SRB); 15. Lisicki, Sabine (GER); 16. Pavlyuchenkova, Anastasia (RUS); 17. Peng, Shuai (CHN); 18. Cibulkova, Dominika (SVK); 19. Kuznetsova, Svetlana (RUS); 20. Pennetta, Flavia (ITA); 21. Hantuchova, Daniela (SVK); 22. Ivanovic, Ana (SRB); 23. Goerges, Julia (GER); 24. Vinci, Roberta (ITA); 25. Safarova, Lucie (CZE); 26. Kanepi, Kaia (EST); 27. Medina Garrigues, Anabel (ESP); 28. Kirilenko, Maria (RUS); 29. Wickmayer, Yanina (BEL); 30. Petrova, Nadezda (RUS); 31. Kerber, Angelique (GER); 32. Niculescu, Monica (ROU).

Raonic, Murray, Tsonga Win 1st Titles of 2012

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Andy Murray and Milos Raonic won their first titles of 2012 this weekend. Tsonga defeated Gael Monfils 7-5 6-3 to win the Qatar Open, Murray defeated Aleksandr Dologopolov 6-1 6-3 to win the Brisbane International Open and Raonic defeated Janko Tipsarevic 6-7(4) 7-6(4) 7-6(4) to win the Chennai Open.

Qatar: Monfils Beats Nadal; Faces Tsonga In Final

Karim Jaafar/AFP/Getty Images

Gael Monfils of France stunned World #2 Rafael Nadal in the semifinals of the first official ATP tour event of the year in Doha, Qatar by winning their semifinal match in straight sets 6-3 6-4. Monfils' win sets up an all-French final since World #3 Roger Federer was forced to forfeit his match against Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga due to a back injury. It was only the second time in his career Federer had been unable to play a match due to an injury.

It was Monfils' first win against the 10-time major champion in 10 tries and bodes well for the prodigiously talented Frenchman to breakthrough to the Top Tier of Tennis in 2012. Tsonga continues his stellar play from the end of 2011 into 2012 and has a 2-1 head-to-head career record against his fellow countryman.

Celebrity Friday: Novak and Marko Djokovic Half-Naked Together

The #1 tennis player in the world Novak Djokovic, 24, and his younger brother Marko, 20, show off their, umm, toes, in the sand of Abu Dhabi with a "Santa camel" in this picture. The younger Djokovic is also a tennis player (ranked in the Top 1000) but has generally been receiving attention for being "that cute guy in Djokovic's spectator box" while he won 10 titles in 2011.

Hat/tip to TowleRoad

Michael Jordan gets engaged to model girlfriend Yvette Prieto

Michael Jordan is officially off the market, again. The NBA legend is reportedly engaged to longtime girlfriend and Cuban-born model Yvette Prieto. The couple has been dating for more than three years.
A Jordan spokeswoman first confirmed the news in Charlotte, NC, that he popped the question on Christmas. Prieto is 32 years old, while Jordan is 48.

This would be Jordan's second marriage.He was married for 17 years to Juanita Jordan, but the couple divorced in 2006, and settled for a reported amount of $168 million. They have two sons, Jeffrey Michael and Marcus James, and a daughter, Jasmine.
Jordan is the current owner of the Charlotte Bobcats, and can often be seen on the sideline of Bobcats games with Prieto.
There is no announcement for a wedding date.