By Glenn Osborne
It quite literally could not have been any tougher for the Australians at the draw for their home Grand Slam
Two – the unfortunate Bernard Tomic and Ashleigh Barty – have drawn the world number one in the men’s and women’s draws respectively.
Tomic’s match up with Rafael Nadal and Barty’s with Serena Williams will guarantee huge turnouts at Melbourne Park for the opening two days, but the prospect of all the Australians being knocked out by Thursday or Friday of next week is very real.
Lleyton Hewitt won in Brisbane last weekend and is in sparkling form, and he’ll need to be as he faces 25th seed Andreas Seppi.
James Duckworth will have been elated to have won a wildcard entry to the tournament – less so now that he faces the great Roger Federer.
For the women, Sam Stosur drew Klara Zakopalova, who thrashed the Australian in straight sets just this afternoon in Hobart. The 17th seed, Stosur will need to be much better to have any chance of turning that around in the space of just a few days. She’s never reached the quarter-finals at her home Grand Slam and sadly it looks as though the expectations of her to break the drought are already weighing her down. They have before.
The contenders will again come from a familiar cast of stars. Emerging from a tram in traditional Melbourne style for today’s draw, Novak Djokovic and Victoria Azarenka have had mortages on the trophies in recent years - Azarenka has won the last two Australian Opens, Djokovic the last three.
But Boris Becker, Djokovic’s new coach, was on hand at the draw and warned the favourites they won’t have it all their own way.
"On a given day, anybody can beat anybody,” said Becker, a winner in Melbourne in 1991 and 1996.
“Yes, there's a reason Rafael is ranked number one and Bernard is ranked about fifty. But on a good day, surprises happen in tennis. No-one can win guaranteed.”
That Tomic-Nadal match-up is the most tantalising of the opening round, and will put the fiery and brash Tomic in the spotlight once again – just where he likes to be.
“This match will be hyped up for sure, by all of you guys (in the media), and I understand that,” said Becker.
“I'd be the first one to watch it as well."
But there might not be much local action to watch beyond the first week.