The Williams sisters have confirmed that they are aiming to win their third gold medal at the London Olympics in 2012.
Serena and Venus have teamed up to win gold at both the Sydney games in 2000 and the Beijing Olympics in 2008. They didn’t take part in Athens in 2004 due to an injury to the knee of Serena.

The Americans will pair up later in the month to take on Italians Francesca Schiavone and Flavia Pennetta in an exhibition match in Milan as they prepare for the new season ahead. People looking at the latest tennis betting odds online will be keeping an eye on them.

Serena is excited about teaming up with her sister once again and has denied any suggestions that they may skip the games in London.

“We’re the defending champion and we want to defend our title and I don’t see why we wouldn’t,” she said. “This is a good preview to the Olympics, we both want to play. So this is a great, great time for us, so exciting.”

Both players have fallen down the singles rankings over the past 12 months with injuries and illnesses. 13-Grand Slam winner Serena ended the season 12th in the world after falling as low as number 175. The younger of the two sisters underwent surgery on her foot and also had to deal with blood clots on her lungs that ruled her out of the game for a long period.

Venus, on the other hand, is outside the top 100 for the first time since 1997. She was forced to withdraw from the US Open due to suffering from an immune system disease, and has missed a large part of the season due to a hip problem.

There is no better advert for a shorter professional tennis season than injuries to the top players. Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic were out on their feet by the end of this season and made early exits from the Tour Finals. Maria Sharapova’s season was cut short by injury. These are the players the two main tours need on court.

Many of the elite players feel the schedule is too congested, with the exasperation of some leading to rumours of strike action. Cynics suggest that the injury niggles are caused by greed, as the more sensible management of schedules by Roger Federer and the Williams sisters – whose fitness problems have not been tennis-related – lead to better fitness records. People looking at the Australian Open 2012 odds should remember this.

However, players are held to ransom by the mandatory tournament schedule. This meant Djokovic hobbled on to court in Paris to avoid missing out on his $1m bonus and all players know the importance of protecting ranking points. Careers are short and need to be cashed-in on as much as possible. Those following the Online Tennis Betting odds will know all about this.

The schedules are shorter in duration next year, but with the Olympics added in the tennis calendar will be even more congested. Injuries are more likely and the quality of tennis might also suffer, endangering the sport’s integrity.

Sharapova and Venus Williams have already pulled out of warm-up events for the Australian Open and the difficulty they had in finding rhythm after previous lay-offs suggests they might struggle in 2012. Something needs to be done before other star names suffer persistent injury problems.

Love it or loathe it, the Olympic Games is one of the most important – and historic – events in the world of sport, though, the less said about London’s choice of logo for the 2012 Olympics, the better.

The occasion is particularly interesting for tennis players, given that many of the sport’s superstars, such as Rafael Nadal, will be in attendance when the event gets underway at Wimbledon, in July, next year.

Confirmed athletes, so far, include the highest-ranked woman in the world, Caroline Wozniacki, and the Williams sisters, Venus and Serena, who won the gold medal in the doubles competition at Beijing 2008. Anyone following the Olympic sports betting should remember this.

Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, and Andy Murray will also feature at the All England Club, which will have just 20 days to prepare for the Olympics, once the previous tournament, the annual Wimbledon Championships, finishes.

Unusually for SW19, players will be permitted to wear coloured uniforms during the Olympics, mirroring the attitude to clothing championed by the Davis Cup. The Wimbledon Championships, in comparison, permits white fabrics only.

The BBC, reporting last August, when SW19 chiefs began preparations for London 2012, claimed that 172 athletes will play tennis for their country at Wimbledon, in five separate categories, namely, doubles and singles for both genders, as well as mixed doubles.

While admitting that the “four slams” are more important than the Olympics for the modern tennis ace, British number one, Elena Baltacha, said that the number of players vying for a gold medal will be “massive” in 2012.

“The appeal of the city [London] has something to do with it”, Baltacha told the Metro. “The players I have spoken to are taking it seriously now.” Whether the 28-year-old’s comments intimate that the Olympics hasn’t always been popular with players is debatable.

Jessica Ennis, one of Team GB’s main hopes of a gold medal in next year’s Olympic Games in London, will try her best to stay away from the Olympic Stadium in the build-up to the opening ceremony.

The heptathlete revealed that she has no interest in flitting in and our of the stadium, and will try to arrange training sessions at the locations she normally uses. Furthermore, she’ll try her best to shun any photo shoots that may be arranged with the Team GB athletes at the stadium in the weeks leading up to the start.

The reason behind Ennis’s choice is simple, and sensible, the athlete stating that she wants the experience of turning up at the stadium to compete for real to “be new” and accompanied by “that fresh feeling” that can provide the adrenalin that proves crucial in tight competitions. She wants the experience to replicate the experience of traveling to a different country for the event, although obviously with the added benefit of home support, which is likely to be raucous in London throughout the Olympic Games.

Ennis will be hoping for a confidence-boosting six months in the build-up after losing her world title earlier this year. She seems to know the event that needs the most attention before then, a poor throw in the javelin at the world championships taking the gloss off personal bests in the shot put and 800m.

For the latest Olympics news, head over to the Unibet Netherlands site today.

Sir Alex Ferguson has insisted that Manchester United’s young players should not be picked for both the 2012 Olympic Games in London and the European Championship. With England taking part in the Euros in June next year, they could technically turn out at the Olympic football competition, which runs through July and August. The English FA have themselves hinted that this is a possibility, but United manager Ferguson is quite clearly against this hypothetical situation.

Ferguson stated that he recognised the players are “young, fit and eager” but every professional footballer deserves and needs some sort of break over the summer in order to avoid injury problems and issues with form the following season in the Premier League.

The news will come as an annoyance to Team GB’s football manager Stuart Pearce, who may well have been hoping to call upon the likes of Danny Welbeck, Phil Jones, defender Chris Smalling and midfielder Tom Cleverley without causing any issue with the players’ club. All of the players picked by Pearce need to be 23 years of age or younger, while three players over that age are allowed in the 18-man squad. David Beckham may well be one of those picked, which would improve England’s Olympics odds with the likes of Unibet Casino.

With the likes of Wayne Rooney suffering in the past from not taking a proper, injury-free break between seasons, Sir Alex is no doubt right to hold concerns about next summer, but with the Olympics taking part in the UK and a number of exciting young prospects hopeful of gaining more experience in a competition not many have been involved with before, there’s a tricky balance that somehow needs to be struck over the coming months.

Keep a close eye on the odds for next summer’s Olympics and Euros at Unibet NL online.