She has not played in Australia since

She has not played in Australia since.Seles won her comeback tournament at the Canadian Open in Montreal last year and was runner-up to Steffi Graf at the US Open in September. But she was forced out of the indoor tournament in Oakland, California, at the end of last month with tendinitis in her left knee and missed this month’s season-ending WTA championship in New York.. It is a curious thing that just as the sacrament of confession is, historically, on the decline, so the confessional mode of public discourse is booming. The Spaniards have been in the final for five of the last six years and have won three of them. The Americans, who have won a record 14 times in 32 Fed Cups, last won in 1990.Seles is to play in Australia for the first time since January 1993.

She has entered the Peters International tournament, one of the biggest warm-up events for the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam of 1996.The Peters International, formerly the New South Wales Open, is held from 8-14 January, the week before the Australian Open begins in Melbourne.Seles won the Australian Open for three consecutive years, the last in 1993 and three months before an on-court stabbing in Hamburg, Germany, forced her out of the game for 28 months. Seles, co-ranked as the world No 1, withdrew on Tuesday because of recurrent knee problems.Rubin, 19, reached the finals of two WTA events this season before losing and was the only American to reach the quarter-finals in ths year’s French Open.Saturday and Sunday’s Fed Cup final will be played on clay in Valencia. Spain have won the last two Fed Cups, led by clay-court specialists Aranxta Sanchez Vicario and Conchita Martinez – the two who will lead the team again this year. “But Martina Navratilova is still on standby in the States.”Rubin joins the four-member American team with Lindsay Davenport, Mary Joe Fernandez and Gigi Fernandez. If there is any repeat I would expect a fine.”That would not be good use of Dixon’s money..

Tennis

Chanda Rubin will replace Monica Seles in the United States team for their Fed Cup final against Spain this weekend.
Rubin, 15th in the WTA world rankings, complained her back felt “tight” at a training session yesterday “She feels fine now,” the US Association spokeswoman said. “We’ve had a rap on the knuckles from the authorities for mini pitch invasions at both the quarter and semi-finals. We had talks on the financial position and he is quite happy to let the board carry on running it. He has made a pounds 2m investment in the club and deserves credit for that.”Squire has warned supporters to behave at Hampden, whatever the result.

Prior to his most recent call, the last contact had been around March.”I told him to get a seat on a plane and get over here but he did say he would rather leave it to us. He can have mine if he wants – I’ll even sit in the dug-out if need be.”Squire drove Dixon to Edinburgh Airport a year ago and has not seen him since. I’d love for him to see this sleeping giant that he has helped keep going – with 17,000 fans behind them at Hampden. I would hope that if he did manage to attend they would be chanting his name.”I’m keeping one seat for him if he needs it. “Ron knew all about the club’s progress – the semi-final win over Airdrie, and the derby win over Dundee United,” Squire said “He has a lot of business on at the moment. Nigel Squire, the club’s managing director, is prepared to surrender his, even it that means watching from the dug-out as Dundee take on Aberdeen.Dixon, whose pounds 2m investment has helped keep Dundee in business, has been out of Scotland for a year and was out of contact with the Dens Park board for more than six months.Squire said yesterday that Dixon had made phoned “within the last few days” from Vancouver to wish the club all the best for the final.