Safina to miss Brisbane; Aussie status in doubt

Dinara Safina withdrew Friday from next month's Brisbane International because of a bad back, leaving her status for the Australian Open in doubt. Safina, the former top-ranked player in the world, had hoped to return from injury at the Brisbane event and start tuning up for the first major of 2010. But tournament director Steve Ayles said Safina's back problem will prevent her from playing Jan. 3-10 at Brisbane. "At this stage she's still entered in Sydney and the Australian Open.