Marion Bartoli is confirmed as an entrant to the Brisbane International. The tournament begins on 5th January 2009.

French Open champion Ana Ivanovic headlines the Brisbane list.

Marion will also play the Medibank International in Sydney. She will be looking to defend her points from last year where she got off to a superbe 6-1 6-0 winning start over Karin Knapp.

These two events will be Marion's springboard to the opening grand slam of the year, the Australian Open held in Melbourne between 19 Jan - 1 Feb 2009.

As revealed to Alain Deflassieux of L'Equipe, Marion has already returned to training after a little vacation. Marion's coach and father Walter reveals that Marion is now playing sets of tennis with men including former professional Guy Forget.

'with Bartoli, the work resumed in Geneva on a different footing from previous recesses and pre-seasons. "The other years, Marion was primarily doing other methods like the basket*, but this time we prefer sets with men most of the time, male sparring-partners," explained her father, Walter. "Marion has from time to time the luxury of a partner in the person of Guy Forget. But as usual, we insist on the physical training first."

"Quite early around Christmastime we will leave for Australia," say's Walter.'

*This is the portable basket containing many tennis balls, which is used to hit balls on the practice court.

(Thanks to Lighter)

(Told you she's a strong girl) :.

The official list for Brisbane is as follows;

Ivanovic, Ana SRB (no. 5)
Azarenka, Victoria BLR (no. 15)
Bartoli, Marion FRA (no. 17)
Hantuchova, Daniela SVK (no. 21)
Li, Na CHN (no. 23)
Mauresmo, Amelie FRA (no. 24)
Bammer, Sybille AUT (no. 26)
Kanepi, Kaia EST (no. 27)
Kirilenko, Maria RUS (no. 29)
Schiavone, Francesca ITA (no. 30)
Sugiyama, Ai JPN (no. 31)
Kleybanova, Alisa RUS (no. 32)
Bondarenko, Alona UKR (no. 33)
Peng, Shuai CHN (no. 40)
Errani, Sara ITA (no. 42)
Benesova, Iveta CZE (no. 43)
Kvitova, Petra CZE (no. 44)
Pironkova, Tsvetana K BUL (no. 45)
Niculescu, Monica ROU (no. 47)
Govortsova, Olga BLR (no. 49)
Stosur, Samantha AUS (no. 52)
Garbin, Tathiana ITA (no. 55)
Arvidsson, Sofia SWE (no. 56)

Edited 20:40