The start of 2007 doesn't look much brighter for American tennis player Venus Williams than most of 2006.

A nagging left wrist injury forced Williams to withdraw Wednesday from the Australian Open that runs Jan. 15-28 in Melbourne.

Venus Williams withdrew Wednesday from the Australian Open.
(Steve Holland/Associated Press)

Top-ranked Justine Henin-Hardenne also won't play because of undisclosed personal reasons.

Williams, bothered by a sore wrist since last season, also missed last week's Hopman Cup mixed teams competition in Perth.

The five-time Grand Slam singles winner played only two matches after Wimbledon last summer after suffering a recurrence of the wrist injury at the Luxembourg Open in late September.

Williams, who dropped to No. 54 in the WTA standings after being sidelined more than three months, finished the year at No. 48.

The former top-ranked Williams has never won the Australian Open, with her best result a loss in the final to her younger sister Serena in 2003.

Williams was ousted in the first round at Melbourne Park last year by Bulgaria's Tsvetana Pironkova.

On the men's side, No. 2-ranked Rafael Nadal of Spain withdrew from a warmup event in Sydney this week with a groin problem, along with No. 3-ranked Nikolay Davydenko of Russia who retired with a foot injury.

However, both are expected to play in the Australian Open.

The men's and women's singles draws for this year's tournament will be announced Friday.

With files from the Associated Press