What to Watch on Monday at the Australian Open

ACTIVE ‘SLAM CHAMPIONS: The Australian Open this year features 15 active Grand Slam champions – seven men and eight women – and the bulk of the majors are held by the top three players on each side.

“Look at Stan Wawrinka a year ago at the French Open, he hit through Novak and Novak got a bit tight in the situation. I didn’t have the match play that I’ve wanted to have but, after playing for so many years on Tour, I should be able to, you know, focus on that”. “But, of course, Novak deserves like a little star next to his name right now because he’s been doing extremely well”.

“The Australian Open is the one where players come in maybe most inspired”, said Federer, who opens his campaign Monday with an evening match against 117th-ranked Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia.

“No, I feel fine”, she said, when asked whether nerves would play a factor in the season’s opening Slam.

Accompanying Murray in Dubai was Amelie Mauresmo, back in position as full-time coach following her maternity leave past year, as well as Davis Cup team-mates James Ward and Kyle Edmund.

Williams’s season finished last year with a semi-final loss to Roberta Vinci in the US Open semi-finals, which ended her quest to become only the fourth woman in history to win a calendar-year Grand Slam of the sport’s major trophies. “I want to perform at my best”.

Victory would enable Djokovic to join Australia’s Roy Emerson as the only six-time winners of the tournament and his performance at the Qatar Open this month would have sent an ominous shudder through the rest of the men’s field. If she successfully defends her title, she will draw alongside Steffi Graf with 22 slam titles to lead the field in the Open era.

“It was the first time I played her and she was one of the players I grew up watching when I was younger, so it was definitely a different experience to where I’m at now”. I don’t think Rafa, myself, we personally look at the rankings very much, check it out all the time, care too much, to be quite honest, after being world No1. Djokovic is a puzzle Federer, 34, will have to solve if he is to add to his record 17 Grand Slam titles as retirement looms ever closer.

Perhaps anticipating questions about the Russian, Williams was a prickly presence in her press conference. “It was in front of me previous year but it still wasn’t there, so …” He is also the first Serbian player to rank No. 1 for more than 100 weeks and serves his country proud to be the first male player representing Serbia to win a Grand Slam singles title.

“Yes I might be more rusty”, Sharapova said.

The 2009 champ won’t have to face rival Novak Djokovic until the final, but commented on how well he’s playing.

Federer caught a flu-like virus before this year’s Brisbane International, where the Swiss Maestro managed to reach the final round only to be defeated by Canada’s Milos Raonic in straight sets. “It’s just that I needed some time to get over that little hump”. “Now I’m finally starting to see some of the results of what she’s been training for”.

If he were to pull out of the final, the title would go to his opponent and the Australian Open would miss its showpiece moment usually watched by millions of viewers around the world.