Venus fit and raring to go

Players Under the Microscope / Editor / 03 April 2007 / Leave a Comment

Venus Williams insists that she is now over her injury problems and will play more tournaments in a bid to climb back up the rankings.

After an injury-plagued 2006 in which she missed the US Open, the former world number one was forced to withdraw from the Australian Open at the start of this year with a wrist problem.

However, the 26-year-old made a winning return to court to take the title in Memphis in February, while she was also able to play in Miami, only to lose to Maria Sharapova in the third round.

Williams is just glad to be back in action and insists that she is fully fit as she attempts to improve on her current world ranking of 32.

"I feel really good," Williams said. "I had a great tournament in Memphis and a great tournament in Miami (last week) although I would have liked to do better.

"I'm very eager to get my ranking up but realize I have to wait and quite possibly have to play more tournaments. Or I have to stay in there and win the big tournaments like (sister) Serena.

"I just have to be patient...but I want it tomorrow."

The American kicks off her clay-court season with a first-round clash against Aravane Rezai and is a strong 1.07 favourite to progress, with her French opponent available at 13.5.

With a number of the top stars such as Sharapova and Kim Clijsters missing the tournament, Williams, winner of this event in 2002, is currently second favourite at 4.5 to lift the title, behind Nadia Petrova at 4.3.