It's old news by now that Gael Monfils withdrew from Sydney, citing a bad shoulder. There's some word that he's doubtful for AO, but that kind of speculation this close to an event is hard to take measure of-- it's almost impossible to know whether that's real or whether it's just things people are saying to drum up interest.
Bepa, of course, retired in her match against Elena Vesnina yesterday in Sydney; the ankle she injured last year in Charleston and had surgery on over the off-season swelled up again in Hong Kong and apparently was not fit to be played on yesterday. Again, hard to know-- was the retirement precautionary, or is she also doubtful for AO? Time will tell.
However, the week started with David Nalbandian withdrawing from Auckland due to an abdominal injury, and now he's officially withdrawn from AO. It seems like forever since he's been able to play consistently, and he's not 19-- how much longer can he keep this up?
