The whereabouts and health of former world No. 1 Dinara Safina have finally been answered by the Russian star herself in a new blog post on her recently updated official website. According to Safina, she is recovering and rehabing in Croatia and slowly on her way back to the practice courts.

Safina goes into specific detail about her injury which has prevented her from playing  since her retirement in her fourth round match to Maria Kirilenko at this year's Australian Open. She writes, "My injury from Australia was pretty bad and takes so long to heal. The problem is that I had it since Cincinnati last year, and since then had been playing all the time while on pain killers. My back was really bad there but I didn’t feel anything the rest of the season until my last match at the Australian Open. After that match, I had an MRI and I had two stress fractures on L5S1 and a rupture on the muscle. That was the worst news I could ever hear from a doctor, but now finally I’m recovering, though not as fast as I would prefer."

Although there's been talk Safina might return to action at this year's event in Rome, she gave no such indication on her site. In any event, it's welcome news that she is at least on the mend healthwise even though her ranking might not fare as well in the coming months.

Click here to visit Dinara Safina's website.

(This post originally appeared on Adjustingthenet.com)