All the tune-up hard court tournaments leading to the Australian Open have been concluded and the top tennis players in the world have gathered in the great Land of the Kangaroo, for the first tennis grand slam of the year.

Winners, finalists and losers from Adelaide, Sydney, Qatar, participated in those tournaments to “tune up” for the Big one. While success in these events contribute to building up confidence, the tennis player is mindful of not over-playing himself or herself, or of sustaining injuries.

Roger Federer, tournament second seed, had a case of cold infection that made him concede the title in to Canadian Raonic; generating anxiety for the tournament organisers in Melbourne.

Happily, he has recovered and had sufficient practice to give him the confidence for the Opening Day. He is seeded second behind world number One player, Novak Djokovic, who denied him both the Wimbledon and United States Open titles in 2015.

Winner of 17 Grand slam trophies, the Swiss legend still speaks of introducing new shots into his repertoire, following on his “chip-and-charge-the second serve” entrée at the United States Open Championships in New York last year.

South Africa’s Kevin Anderson carries Africa’s hope as the 11th seeded player, behind American John Isner and Frenchman Jo-Willfried Tsonga.

In the ladies’ Draw, Serena Williams is top seed. She comes to Melbourne determined to re-assert her dominance after the disappointing loss to Italy’s Roberta Vince in the Semifinals of the United States Open; where a victory would have given her a historic calendar Grand slam of winning all the four major tiles in on year.

Vince is seeded 13th at Melbourne. Venus Williams is seeded 8th and is likely to face second seeded Simona Halep in the quarterfinals.

If the seedings hold true to the second week, we could have quarterfinals matchups of Novak Djokovic/Nishikori; Roger Feder/Tomas Berdych; Andy Murray/David Ferrer; Stan Wawrinka/Rafael Nadal.

In the Women’s Draw, it could be quarterfinals with Serena Williams/Maria Sharapove; Simona Halep/Venus Williams; Garbine Muguruza/Angelique Kerber; Agniezka Radwanka/Petra Kvitova.
In the Men’s and Women’s draws, however, there are players capable of defeating the top seeds. That is the thrill of a tennis tournament.

The action kicks off in the Rod Laver Arena at 11.00 a.m. Australian Time with a match between Petra Kvitova of Czech Republic and Luksika Kumkhum of Thailand, which will be followed by Serena Williams taking on Camila Giorgi of Italy.

Then the men’s event takes off with the first round match between defending champion, Djokovic and Hyeon Chung of Korea immediately after the Serena Williams match.

In the evening session, starting at 7.00 p.m. Melbourne time, Roger Federer will face Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia after which the Australian lady hopeful Samantha Stosur will take on Krystiyna Pilskova of Czech Republic.

The gutsy former world number one, Lleyton Hewitt, is playing his final Australian Open Championships, which will be marked by the jolly Aussies!
Roger Federer recalled their rivalries as Juniors, which Hewitt dominated.