The first Grand Slam of the year is upon us, with the Australian Open starting in Melbourne on Monday, January 19.
This year is the 103rd edition of the event and the 28th Open to be held at Melbourne Park.
Key tournament information
Venue: Melbourne Park, Victoria, Australia
Players in the draw: 128
Top seeds: Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams
Most wins at the Australian Open: Roy Emerson (6) and Margaret Court (11)
Last year’s winners: Stanislas Wawrinka and Li Na
Channel Seven will be broadcasting the Open on 7 and 7two for the first six days. For the rest of the event the main channel will host the tennis.
(Click here for a full guide of the times.)
Seven are also streaming the Open online and on the 7sport app, with up to seven courts available at one time on those platforms.
How will the Australians go?
After the draw was released on Friday many Australians will be quietly confident of success in their opening matches.
This year sees 18 Australian in the draw, the most since the 2005 Australian Open. That number could rise with some Australians still in qualifying for the event.
Out of those 18, 9 are wildcards, with 2 of those won by Daria Gavrilova and Jordan Thompson in the wildcard playoff last year.
For Gavrilova it will be her first Australian Open as an Australian resident. The Russian-born Victorian is in the process of completing her citizenship.
It is a similar story for Croatian-born Queenslander Ajla Tomljanovic, who is also competing for Australia for the first time at her home event.
Both players have matches they can win in the first round of the tournament.
Only two Australians drew seeds, with Thanasi Kokkinakis to face Ernests Gulbis, and John Millman to battle Leonardo Mayer.
Out of the 18 Australians in the main draw, 10 are favourites with the bookies. Another 6 are outsiders but can beat their opponents on their day.
Only Luke Saville and Marinko Matosevic, who drew qualifiers, don’t know who they will face in the first round.
I predict up to 13 Australians will win in the opening round, which would be a fantastic achievement after only having that many players in the entire draw in 2006 and 2007.
Can Stan Wawrinka go back-to-back
Can Stan be the man once again at the Australian Open? That’s the burning question of Australian Open 2015.
Like last year, he has started this season well, winning the ATP event in Chennai in the first week of January. He also got a dream run at the Australian Open last year with a retirement and a walkover in the first three rounds of the event. That helped Wawrinka later in the tournament, as he was relatively fresh when he defeated Novak Djokovic in five sets in the quarter final.
He then secured the title with four-set wins over Tomas Berdych and Rafael Nadal in the semi-final and final.
This year Wawrinka has a relatively easy draw for the first few rounds. His first challenge looks to be either Fabio Fognini or Alexandr Dolgopolov in Round 4.
Most likely awaiting him in the quarter-finals is Kei Nishikori, with a semi-final battle against Djokovic if the seeds win through. This is similar to the US Open last year when Nishikori defeated both players at the same stage to make his first Grand Slam final.
It is a tough proposition for Wawrinka and he will need to be at his best to repeat his win from last year.
I’m not so sure he can do it with Djokovic, Roger Federer and Nishikori in better form over the last few months than him.
Can Serena Williams win for the first time in five years?
Since 2010, Williams has not made it past the Australian Open quarter finals, losing in the fourth round twice and the quarters once.
Can this year be the year she puts a perfect tournament together? She did that at the US Open last year to win her only Grand Slam of 2014.
Her biggest challenge looks to be Caroline Wozniacki or Victoria Azarenka in the quarter finals. Last year, Wozniacki almost defeated Williams in the US Open final, losing in three tight sets.
She could then face Petra Kvitova in the semi-finals and Maria Sharapova in the final if the top seeds make the finals.
If she plays like Serena from 2005 – 2009, when she won four titles, then she will be hard to beat. If she doesn’t, then someone will surprise her like Ana Ivanovic did last year.
Predictions
In the last few years the Australian Open has thrown up a few surprises. I’m going to do the same with my predictions.
Kei Nishikori is my pick for the men’s event. He made his first Grand Slam final last year and has an identical draw here in Australia in the later rounds. The Japanese number one will be tough to beat.
In the women’s I predict a first-up winner as well. Simona Halep almost won the French Open last year and she was impressive in the latter stages of 2014. In 2015 she has already won a title, in Shenzhen, and looks in good form for the Australian Open. She has a draw which can take her to the title.
Whether it’s aces or races, try out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp for great odds and a great punting experience. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.
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