News just came out today that Maria Sharapova will not be defending her title because she still hasn't recovered from last year's shoulder injury. I'm disappointed about this, because whatever you think of her, much like the Williams sisters, the big tournaments are much more interesting when she is there. I happen to be a fan of her game, aside from the sound effects.
Also, Nikolay Davydenko is out on the men's side - not quite as big a deal, but still, a very good player who usually does well in slams.
One other thing I noticed is that Alexandra Wozniak could be seeded at the Australian this year. I can't remember the last time a Canadian player was seeded in a slam - it's got to be back in the 80s or something like that. Hopefully one of the Canadian men can jump up and join her later in the year.
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Great effort by Peter Polansky, he took Igor Andreev to 5 sets. He's about our only hope for the next 5 years, unless there's some teenager I've never heard of waiting to bust out.
