Williams’ special request

Venus Williams could make her last ever appearance at the ASB Classic on New Year’s Day.

Stuff understands that the former world No 1 will be playing on Tuesday at the Classic along with defending champion Julia Goerges, while Victoria Azarenka, Caroline Wozniacki and Eugenie Bouchard are all expected to play on Monday.

Tournament director Karl Budge wouldn’t confirm that Williams would play on Tuesday, but acknowledged that her camp had asked for that.

‘‘We’ve had a request from her team to have a Tuesday start,’’ Budge said.

‘‘Obviously, until the draw is out we can’t confirm that, but we will try to work in with Venus’s team wherever we can.

‘‘With the amount of talent we’ve got available, if we are able to play Venus on a Tuesday, maybe she’s paired up with someone like our defending champion Julia Goerges, while the Monday might feature Eugenie Bouchard, Caroline Wozniacki and Victoria Azarenka on centre court.’’

At the age of 38, this could be Williams’ last appearance at the Classic and while it might be nice to see her go all the way, the only way to guarantee seeing her is by watching her first round match.

‘‘We don’t know how much longer Venus is going to play for,’’ Budge said.

As the first two days of the upcoming tournament are played on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, there’s a change to the norm, with just twilight sessions on these days, starting at 3pm, rather than separate day and night session.