Venus Williams

World number 10 and seven-times Grand Slam champion Venus Williams was given a $5,000 (£3,532) fine for failing to appear at a news conference on Tuesday.

The American, 35, did not fulfil her post-match media commitments after losing in straight sets to Britain’s Jo Konta.

Williams was fined $3,000 by the International Tennis Federation at last year’s French Open for skipping her media duties following a first-round defeat by Sloane Stephens.

Asked whether her elder sister would return to Melbourne in 2017, defending champion Serena Williams said: “I would assume. She’s never mentioned anything about not being here, not competing.”

Australian Nick Kyrgios has also been fined $3,000 (£2,100) after he was heard to utter an obscenity in his first-round win over Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta on Monday. Kyrgios plays Uruguayan Pablo Cuevas later on Wednesday.

Had the incident happened at a regular ATP World Tour event, rather than a major, Kyrgios would be close to triggering a 28-day ban.

The 20-year-old has a suspended ban after being sanctioned for making lewd remarks about Stan Wawrinka’s girlfriend in August at the Montreal Masters.

The 28-day suspended ban would be triggered if he received further fines totalling $5,000 (£3,500) before 24 February.

He was fined $1,500 (£1,000) for an audible obscenity late last year in Shanghai.

But Wednesday’s fine does not count towards the total as it happened at a major.

Unlike Venus, Krygios has moved into the third round, after seeing off Pablo Cuevas, 6-4, 7-6, 7-5 today.