Serena and Sharapova on track to meet in Open quarters

The first Slam of the season will be played at Melbourne Park, and it’s the first real and important test of the season.

She had played 15 consecutive Australian Opens, with her best result being the quarterfinals in 2011.

It is a challenge, however, Anderson might approach with some misgivings, considering the fact that he has started 2016 in somewhat shaky fashion with early tournament defeats against Milos Raonic, Feliciano Lopez and Jack Sock – all players positioned below him in the world rankings.

Federer won his last Australian title in 2010 and made four semifinals in a row before losing in the third round past year to Andreas Seppi.

She had the opportunity past year to clinch the only feat missing from her resume and become the first female player since Steffi Graf in 1988 to capture a calendar grand slam at the U.S. Open. “Her knees simply responded badly to a treatment that she received a few days before the Hopman Cup, and she experienced swelling”.

The music-loving Belarusian, who likes to imagine the tennis court is a dance floor, said she was excited at the prospect of potentially facing the American veteran.

The preparations of the reigning champions couldn’t be more contrasting in the week leading up to the first Grand Slam tournament of the year.

World number one Serena Williams (knee), Simona Halep (Achilles) and Garbine Muguruza (foot) all pulled out of matches last week but Sharapova said it was understandable for players to be wary ahead of a major. And despite a 53-3 overall record, there were 19 three-set matches along the way, testing both her patience and championship fiber, a bad habit Chrissie Evert said will have to stop.

“My body is feeling great now”, Williams said.

“I know what I need to do on and off the court to win big tournaments”, she added to the newspaper late Monday.

“I think she’s a player we should be talking about and focusing on right now”, Evert said. “When she lost in Canada, I had never seen Serena have this problem”.

“When I say ideal, it’s not one thing in particular”.

No 2-ranked Andy Murray will open again Alexander Zverev of Germany and in the same half of the draw, 2014 champion Stan Wawrinka takes on Dmitry Tursonov.

Lleyton Hewitt, who will play his 20th and last Australian Open before retiring and has already been hired as the country’s Davis Cup captain, will play fellow Australian James Duckworth in the first round. “That Novak wins maybe not so much because he’s been on a roll for a while now”.

The qualifying rounds for the Australian Open started on Wednesday and the main draw will be released on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. ET.