Today the eyes of the tennis world once again turn to Melbourne with the beginning of the 99th Australian Open, a tournament which is full of intrigue on both sides of the draw. Can Rafael Nadal make history? Who will step up in Serena Williams’ absence?
There are many questions waiting to be answered over the next 14 days.
For the men, the favouritism tag is understandably being shared between Nadal and Roger Federer.
Nothing particularly out of the ordinary there, except one thing: Rafa is shooting for his fourth successive grand slam win.
Only one man, Rod Laver, has accomplished such a feat in the Open era, and that was 41 years ago. And if that wasn’t enough of a sub-plot, Federer has twice been in the same position Nadal is now – and both times it was Nadal who broke his streak.
The Fed, for his part, does has the form to exact revenge and claim back-to-back Australian titles. He won the year-end tournament in London last November (with a win over Nadal in the final) as well as the Qatar Open earlier this month.
In Doha, showing no signs of back problems of the past, his serve was broken just once throughout the tournament, and during the final, his opponent Nikolay Davydenko never once sat on break point.
The two men most likely to crash the Nadal-Federer party are considered to be Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray.
Djokovic is a previous winner in Melbourne and will enter this year’s tournament ranked third in the world. He’s also coming off making the final of last year’s US Open. Murray, the well-supported Scot who made the final here last year, is still waiting to win his first major and finally dispose of that massive weight of expectation.
Outside of the so-called big four, Swede Robin Soderling is considered to be the best chance of winning.
As usual, Lleyton Hewitt will enter the tournament Australia’s best chance of male success. However, with a 54 world ranking and a first-round match-up with David Nalbandian, expectations should be tempered.
My tip for the men’s title? Federer.
For the women, with Serena not appearing this year, the favourite is a crowd favourite – Kim Clijsters.
Although ranked world number three, Clijsters finished 2010 with some incredible form by claiming her third grand slam title at the US Open and beating the top-ranked Caroline Wozniacki to win the year-end championships.
By making the final in Sydney last week, she showed that her winning form did not disappear over the break.
Meanwhile, Wozniacki remains world number one heading into Melbourne. Obviously, this fact means she deserves to be placed highly among the list of contenders, however it has to be remembered she’s still chasing her first win at a slam.
At any rate, losing in the second round at Sydney – after having a bye in the first round – is hardly ideal preparation.
There are several others that certainly stand a chance. Vera Zvonareva, the second seed and runner-up at both Wimbledon and the US Open last year, is one such candidate.
Justine Henin, who made an impressive return from retirement in Melbourne last year before injuries took over, and who also dominated at the Hopman Cup this month, is another.
However, the woman of most interest to Australians, and very much a legitimate chance in her own right, is Sam Stosur.
Stosur showed last year she is capable of mixing it with the best by beating Serena Williams at the French Open (a tournament she made the final of) and Wozniacki at the year-end tournament.
Having said that, second-round exits in both Brisbane and Sydney would have to be concerning. As would the fact her best ever Australian Open run ended in the fourth round.
But at the very least, the home crowd will be behind her every time she plays.
My tip for the women’s title? Clijsters.
Of course, it is not uncommon to see major surprises and upsets at the Australian Open, so the names prominently featured on any tournament preview shouldn’t be taken too seriously. There always seems to be one player that makes an unexpected run deep into the second week.
But at the end of the day, that just makes the next 14 days even more interesting.
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