Justine Henin of Belgium reaches wide for a forehand against Nadia Petrova of Russia

The procession of successful comebacks at the Brisbane International has continued on Pat Rafter Arena with former world number one Justine Henin ousting second seed Nadia Petrova in straight sets this afternoon.

In her first professional outing since her shock retirement in May 2008 the seven-times grand slam champion – a wildcard in the field at the Queensland Tennis Centre – defeated the 20th-ranked Russian 7-5 7-5.

The entire women’s field had waited with a mixture of nervous anticipation and dread as the singles draw was made on Saturday with no one safe as Henin lurked as a floater in the 32-strong main draw.

The unlucky was ultimately the tournament’s second-highest ranked entrant, Petrova, and any fear she may have felt at the prospect of facing the rejuvenated Belgian was well justified.

In a close-fought encounter with the strongly-built Russian, Henin broke her opponent at 5-5 in the first and second sets and refused to surrender those advantages in clinically converting on both occasions.

She now faces Sesil Karatantcheva of Kazakhstan in the second round after her three-set defeat of Australia’s Casey Dellacqua earlier today.

Source: brisbanetimes.com.au

Wes Welker Injury

HOUSTON - Wes Welker suffered a left knee injury yesterday that added a significant loss to yesterday’s 34-27 defeat to the Texans, one that will have serious repercussions for the Patriots [team stats]’ playoff hopes.

According to a league source, initial tests indicated the Pro Bowl wide receiver tore both his anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligaments, which is the same season-ending injury Tom Brady [stats] suffered in the opener last year. Welker is expected to undergo more tests today to confirm the initial finding.

Welker caught a pass from Brady on the team’s fourth offensive play, with 9:39 left in the first quarter. As he was making a cut from left to right to avoid Houston’s Bernard Pollard - the former Chiefs safety whose hit tore Brady’s knee - Welker’s knee gave way on the turf. Welker looked to be in considerable pain, as teammates immediately called for medical help.

While he did get to the bench under his own power, he was later carted to the locker room. Based on Welker’s reaction - he buried his face in a towel - and that of his family back home in Oklahoma City, the news didn’t appear very good from the get-go.

“We’re pretty shook up,” Shelley Welker, Wes’ mother, told the Herald after speaking with her son. “He is, too . . . I mean, it’s one of those where it’s a cut he makes all the time.”

The grass was said to be a bit soggy from rain during the week. Welker was on the move, and trying to gain more yards than the dozen he already had, but the knee collapsed during the cut.

All Patriots coach Bill Belichick would say following the game was that he didn’t have an update on Welker. His teammates, however, had plenty to say about their fallen teammate.

“(Losing Welker) hurts. It’s no secret how important Wes is to us,” said veteran defensive back Shawn Springs. “My prayers are with him. Wes is just one of those guys who want to be out there all the time, and we are going to miss him.”

As Welker sat for a brief time on the bench before being taken to the locker room, players went up to him, offering pats on teh back and words of encouragement. Springs and Jonathan Whilhite came over, as did Benjamin Watson [stats], Randy Moss and Brady once the offense was forced to punt.

“He means a lot to this offense. He makes a lot of plays for us, but it’s part of football,” Watson said. “It happens on every team. We’ve had guys go down and come back. It’s part of the deal.”

Rookie Julian Edelman, considered by many a mini-Welker, seentially took over as the slot receiver and had his finest day, catching a career-best 10 passes for 103 yards.

Along with Moss (five catches, 75 yards) and Edelman, the Pats also used Sam Aiken (two catches, 9 yards), Isaiah Stanback and Matthew Slater at wide receiver.

The one catch allowed Welker to close out the 2009 season wiht an NFL-best 123 receptions, despite missing two games to injury. The 123 grabs match Herman Moore (Detroit, 1995) for the second-most in a season in NFL history. His average of 8.8 receptions per game (123 receptions in 14 games) also ranks second in NFL history, behind the 8.9 receptions per game by Marvin Harrison in 2002.

www.bostonherald.com

Burnley defender Bikey understands Bolton wanting Coyle

Burnley defender Andre Bikey can understand why Bolton Wanderers want their manager Owen Coyle.

Bikey has just jetted off to Angola to join Cameroon's African Nations Cup squad.

But after their FA Cup win at MK Dons, he said of Coyle: "He is very relaxed and very good at motivating players. That’s why Burnley got promotion."

It was only Burnley’s second away win of the season but Bikey insisted this will improve, saying: "It’s important for us to win away and we have started here. I think we are going to be safe."

SOURCE: Tribalfootball.com

Urban Meyer Stepping Down

After a successful stint in the college football, Urban Meyer stepped down as a head coach of Florida Gators because of health issues. Meyer has won two national championships for the Gators in the five years as a coach.

Urban Meyer, 45, has the best winning percentage of all college coaches in the last five years. The Gators and the whole football community were shocked of Meyers stepping down. The question that is hanging is what really is the health issue of Meyer, is it life threatening?

Birmingham vs. Chelsea

by: Chelse Daft

How times have changed in recent weeks. A month ago we were flying high and playing well and looked formidable. A couple of niggling injuries but that was about it, and Ancelotti rotating players to keep them fresh. Now we are struggling with injuries, not playing well and to be honest in the last few games I have been saying that we will take any kind of win against sides we should be beating easily and given our form at the beginning of the season. But, something has gone wrong or something has happened in the last few weeks and today is another game where I will take any kind of win today.

What makes things worse is that after today we lose Drogba, Kalou and Mikel to the African Nations cup and Ashley Cole and Ricardo Carvalho are one booking away from a ban!

So its important that we get the three points today in what looks like a really difficult game against a Birmingham side that are on a great run of form and flying high up the table. Credit to Alex McLeish as he has done a great job so far and no doubt Birmingham will be up for the game today bigtime.

Chelsea today will be looking to a different threat to unleash on the opposition today in Daniel Sturridge. For me he looked impressive when he came on against West Ham and his pace will pose anyone problems. Today up front with Drogba could be the time for Sturridge to get on the scoresheet and hit the ground running and take his chance with both hands. With Anelka out today and against Fulham and just Drogba about today Sturridge MUST step up.

When asked about Sturridge, Carlo Ancelotti said:

"He had a problem at the start of the season because he had some injuries and lost physical condition and also his confidence. Now he had one month to work very hard and improved his physical condition and his confidence. Against West Ham he played very well and I am sure that he will do well in the next games and the future. He is very young, 20-years-old and has a lot of quality. He could be a very good played for the future of Chelsea."

At times today I expect us to be under pressure so its important when we have the ball that we play on the strength of Drogba and the pace of Sturridge. If we can get the ball to them as much as possible then the game should be ours. What we need is an early goal to settle us down. If we get an early goal then game over. If we don't we have to be patient.

But like I said I would take any kind of win once more and we look to extend our lead at the top of the Premier League to seven points before the remaining games take place.

Come on the Chels!
CAREFREE & KTBFFH EVERYONE!