Safina faces Oz fitness race

Safina: Fitness race

It's possible I might not be 100 percent fit for the Australian. Maybe I'll have to skip it.

Dinara Safina
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Dinara Safina has admitted she faces a race against time to be fit for next year's Australian Open because of a long-term back injury.

The problem flared up with a vengeance in her opening round-robin match at the season-ending WTA Championships in Doha on Wednesday, forcing her out of the tournament.

It means the Russian will hand over the year-end number one ranking to Serena Williams, but more importantly leaves her with a rehabilitation programme that could take three months.

"It's a question of if I will be able to play in Australia, because when we speak with the doctors it doesn't sound so good," said the 23-year-old, who has been struggling with the problem since July.

"So it's possible I might not be 100 percent fit for the Australian. Maybe I'll have to skip it."

Safina was beaten by Williams in last year's final in Melbourne and consquently has a huge amount of ranking points to defend at the tournament that starts at the end of January.

"At this stage, health is more important. If my back is not healthy, what can I do? I can go to Australia, play two games and I can shake hands. If I'm not fully recovered, I will not play."

Despite the injury, Safina does not blame the hectic tour schedule for not allowing her the time to recover.

"We make the schedule, so all the injuries are on us," she added. "I wouldn't complain about it because if I lose everywhere in the first round, I wouldn't have this problem.

"I was advised to take a break after the US Open, but I thought that I was chasing this number one place, (so) I was fighting with my body.

"Maybe I should have stopped after the US Open, but for two tournaments - in Beijing and Tokyo - it didn't bother me that much. So I was still hoping."