Elite Field in Sydney 2010 Women's Tournament

Four of the top 5 players in Sony Ericsson WTA Tour have confirmed their participation at the Medibank International Sydney 2010 tournament. #1 Serena Williams, #3 Svetlana Kuznetsova, #4 Caroline Wozniacki and #5 Elena Dementieva will be using the tournament as preparation for their Australian Open 2010 campaigns. Only #2 ranked Dinara Safina has not confirmed yet though the tournament website has indicated that it will publish an updated list later this month. Australia's #1 player, world #13 Sam Stosur has also confirmed.

In the 2009 edition, Elena Dementieva beat Dinara Safina in the finals to win the title. Dementieva will be defending a lot of ranking points come January 2010 due to 2 tournament wins, and a semis showing in Australia.

It is also interesting to note that Serena Williams confirmed her participation in the tournament immediately after her fine and probation got reported in the media. I'm sure her "hefty" $82,500 fine would be covered by her heftier appearance money in the tournament alone. In fact, her appearance money should also include bling shopping money for her and her entourage. Good for her!

I'm just curious though - how did the investigation panel come up with the $82,500 fine? Is that the annual income of the aggrieved lines person? If they wanted a statement, they should have fined her the average amount a grand slam semifinalist gets paid. Ooops now, I'm getting off-tanget here.