Andy Murray seeded second for Australian Open

The Happy Slam presents a stern start for some seeded players. Both men, old friends from their time on the junior circuit, have taken time out from their pre-Australian Open schedules this week to speak about their desire to top the podium at the Rio 2016 Games.

Second seed Andy Murray, a three-time runner-up to Djokovic and once to Federer, plays rising German Alexander Zverev in his opener and could run into Australian No. 1 Bernard Tomic, the 16th seed, in the fourth round. The two, who share an agent, met last week in Brisbane, Federer winning in three sets. “That was the key to being seeded two”. All this despite being ranked No. 2 in the world.

A battle of ballistic serving big men pits 10th-seeded John Isner vs. the Pole-verizer Jerzy Janowicz.

The 14-time Grand Slam victor said his motivation this week will be the 2016 Australian Open, where he opens the tournament facing compatriot Fernando Verdasco and where he has a projected quarterfinal match-up against World No. 4 Stan Wawrinka.

Here’s a quarter-by-quarter breakdown of the draw.

Elsewhere, world number one and pre-tournament favourite Novak Djokovic has been drawn against South Korea’s Hyeon Chung, while Roger Federer has been pitted against Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia.

Former finalists Tsonga and Marcos Baghdatis are set to square off in the first round with Tsonga holding a 5-0 lead in their head-to-head series.

“I played against a player who did everything flawless”.

Will they continue to dominate at the season-opening Australian Open, which starts Monday?

At last year’s US Open, Azarenka added a new word to the tennis lexicon – “pinish”, a combination of “punish” and “finish”.

The 34-year-old American has won an incredible 21 Grand Slam titles and only missed out on the US Open prize during 2015.

In the women’s draw, top seed Serena Williams is bidding to equal Steffi Graf’s Open-era record of 22 grand slam titles but the world number one will not have it easy in Melbourne.

The British No 1 tends to perform well at the Australian Open, reaching a total of four finals, although he has never won it. He reached the final previous year only to lose to Djokovic over four sets. This section appears more wide open than most with Berdych having as good of a shot at the quarters as either Cilic or Kyrgios.

What’s incredible is that since he lost in the first week of last season in Doha he’s made the final or won in every one of his appearances.

Nadal in Basel last October, where his comeback began. It gets tougher from there, with Belinda Bencic a possible fourth round opponent and Serena Williams the quarterfinalist. He is the last man to have beaten the Serb in Grand Slam competition, at Roland Garros last summer. The Canadian’s massive serve is an imposing weapon, Milos is moving better these days and managing his backhand more effectively.