THE LOW DOWN: Venus blogs, clears air about "hiatus"

Venus Williams wants to set the record straight.

It was reported last week that the 6-time Grand Slammer was taking an indefinite hiatus from tennis due to an undisclosed medical reason. But V, who was spotted looking healthy + relaxed with boyfriend Hank Kuehne at the Masters, wants us to know that an over-zealous reporter at Amelia Island took a different spin to her news:

Hello everyone,

I am sure over the past few days you have heard some reports about me taking a “hiatus” from tennis. This could not be further from the truth and I just wanted to provide an update to those of you who are concerned.

The last few months have included a great deal of travel (5 continents in 2 months) and a lot of matches. I am not experiencing an injury (thank goodness) but after the Miami tournament my physio and I agreed that this was a smart time to have some preventative checkups on everything from my knees to my shoulder to my wrist to make sure that everything is in order. This is in preparation for a long summer that begins next month with the pre-French Open events in Europe and will last through the US Open in September. I have learned that caution is key and my goal is to do everything I can to put myself in the best position to do well during this next stretch.

The speculation that arose last week is an unfortunate example of one writer incorrectly spinning a story that took on a life of its own. I agreed to visit the Amelia Island tournament (Bausch and Lomb Championships) last week after my withdrawal to offer my support to the tournament and the WTA(and will do the same in Charleston this week). During my visit, I met with sponsors and fans and participated in a media session. From the media session somehow one of the writers translated my statement that I intend to return to competitive play next month for the French Open as an “indefinite leave of absence”??? While it was great to hear from a lot of old friends that wanted to make sure I was ok, this headline was wrong. To be very clear, I am healthy, I am not on an indefinite leave of absence and I will be back on Tour next month beginning in Rome (May 12).

I love playing tennis more and more each day and have no intentions of sitting on the sidelines and watching on TV!

The upcoming weeks will include my visit to Charleston and the Family Circle Cup tournament for a few days this week. I’ll watch Serena play on Tues night and then back to Florida for practice and training. It will be nice to spend a little time at home and catch up on a variety of things including quality time with my friends and family and of course working on new designs for Eleven spring 09 in fact). Thank you for the support. ttyl, vee

Great news! Why can't more athletes be as proactive and direct as V in their responses? She continues to set the standard for the rest.

*VIA DOWNTHELINETENNIS.COM

(image via Getty)