Serena voted AP Female Athlete Of The Year

Playing her best at the most important events, Serena Williams re-established herself as the top player in women's tennis in 2009 and was a landslide choice as Female Athlete of the Year by members of The Associated Press.

Williams received 66 of 158 votes cast by editors at U.S. newspapers that are members of the AP. No other candidate got more than 18 votes in the tally, which was announced Tuesday.

Clearly, Williams' most infamous on-court episode - a tirade directed at a line judge after a foot-fault call near the end of her U.S. Open semifinal loss in September - didn't hurt her standing in the eyes of the voters.

"People realize that I'm a great player, and one moment doesn't define a person's career,'' Williams told the AP. "And I was right, for the most part: It wasn't right the way I reacted - I never said it was - but I was right about the call."

She also noted that the outburst, which resulted in a record fine and two-year probationary period at Grand Slam tournaments, "got a lot more people excited about tennis."

The 28-year-old American tends to do that, thanks to her powerful, athletic play and her outgoing personality.

"We can attribute the strength and the growth of women's tennis a great deal to her," WTA chairman and CEO Stacey Allaster said in a telephone interview. "She is a superstar."

Williams, who is based in Florida, also won the AP award in 2002, a seven-year gap that is the longest between AP Female Athlete of the Year honors since golf's Patty Berg won in 1943 and 1955.

"I'm just happy and blessed to even be playing seven years later. All this is a bonus, really,'' Williams said. "In 2002, I just was really dominant, and I think in 2009, I just brought that back. I kind of became that player again."

Indeed she did.

Williams finished the year at No. 1 in the WTA rankings. She topped $6.5 million in prize money, breaking the single-season tour record by more than $1 million. She won three significant singles titles - Wimbledon, the Australian Open and the season-ending tour championships - and paired with sister Venus to win three Grand Slam doubles championships.

"An incredible performance," Allaster said. "Her game just continues to improve through this long career she's had."

Williams went 50-12 in singles, an .806 winning percentage that was the highest for any woman who played at least 20 matches in 2009. She tied for the tour lead in singles titles. She led the tour with 381 aces, 75 more than anyone else, and also led in percentages of first-service points won and service games won.

Her two Grand Slam singles titles raised her career total to 11, the most among active women. At the year's other two majors, she lost to the eventual champion: Svetlana Kuznetsova at the French Open, Kim Clijsters at the U.S. Open.

"Serena really peaks for those big moments on big stages,'' Allaster said.

Henin looks to be in great shape after win to top 20 player in exhibition

Justine Henin's comeback continues with yet another exhibition victory -- the former No. 1 defeated world No. 20 Nadia Petrova 7-6(4), 6-2 in Cairo on Saturday.

Last weekend, Henin defeated fellow Belgian Kristen Flipkens and world No. 12 Flavia Pennetta in her first event since she retired suddenly in May 2008. Henin will make her official WTA return in Brisbane in January.

Safina willl not participate in one of Australian Open warm-up events

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.

Mauresmo retires from tennis at age 30

Former world No. 1 Amelie Mauresmo has retired. The Frenchwoman, whose international profile was controversially shaped at the 1999 Australian Open, bowed out last night after struggling to find "the desire to compete again."

Mauresmo, 30, won two grand slam singles titles in 2006 - the Australian Open and Wimbledon.

The fragile right-hander endured a rough introduction to international sport 10 years ago when, as a 19-year-old.

But, over time, the athletic all-courter became one of the most popular players of her generation.

"I came here to announce the end of my career. I made this decision after careful consideration," she said.

"I don't want to train anymore. I had to make a decision, which became evident in the last few months and weeks.

"When you grow older, it's more difficult to stay at the top.

"It's a bit sad, but this is the right decision.

"I was lucky enough to have an exceptional career and to experience very strong feelings on the court.

"I dreamt of this career, I dreamt of winning a grand slam title. I lifted trophies in every city in the world and I lived 10 magical and unbelievable years."

Mauresmo rose to No. 1 in September, 2004.

She suffered a bitter-sweet Australian Open victory in January, 2006, when Belgian Justine Henin retired mid-match, denying Mauresmo the pleasure of winning the final point of the match.

Her Wimbledon victory six months later - also against Henin - was the high point of her career.

Illness and injury cut Mauresmo's effectiveness in 2007, when she took time to recover from an appendectomy.

She emerged from a long winless streak by claiming the Paris Open in February, but it was her last hurrah.

Her final match was a 6-4 6-0 flogging from Canadian Aleksandra Wozniak in the second round of the US Open in September.

"It became very hard in the build-up to the US Open," Mauresmo said.

"If I were able to enter the court, play and shine, of course I could continue, but to achieve this you need to put in such hard work. And I'm not capable of that."

Mauresmo won 25 singles titles and retired while still ranked a respectable 21st in the world.

Her retirement means there will be a slight adjustment of seeds for the 2010 Australian Open next month.

Serena fined record $82,500 for US Open tirade

Serena Williams was fined a record $82,500 (U.S.) for her tirade at a U.S. Open line judge and could be suspended from that tournament if she has another "major offence" at any Grand Slam in the next two years.

Grand Slam administrator Bill Babcock's ruling was released Monday, and he said Williams faces a "probationary period" at tennis' four major championships in 2010 and 2011. If she has another "major offence" at a Grand Slam tournament in that time, the fine would increase to $175,000 and she would be barred from the following U.S. Open.

He said Williams is handing over $82,500 right now to the Grand Slam committee, already far more than the previous highest fine for a Grand Slam offence. In 1995, Jeff Tarango stormed off the court at Wimbledon and accused the chair umpire of showing favouritism to certain players in exchange for their friendship. Tarango was fined a total of $43,756, which was reduced to $28,256 on appeal, and barred from Wimbledon the next year.

Williams lashed out at a lineswoman after a foot-fault call at the end of her semifinal loss to eventual champion Kim Clijsters at the U.S. Open in September. It was a profanity-laced, finger-pointing, racket-brandishing display in which Williams approached the official with what U.S. Open tournament director Jim Curley called at the time "a threatening manner."

"I am thankful that we now have closure on the incident and we can all move forward," Williams said in a statement released Monday."