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Australian Open 2018:What can we expect?

The first grand slam of the year the Australian Open will start from Monday.This blog is about this very event,its analysis and predictions.




All eyes will again be on the two evergreen players,Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, when they will step out to the contest the tournament which made their last year memorable.This tournament will see the return of the likes of Stanlas Wawrinka and Novak Djokovic.Wawrinka has been out of this game for last 7-8 months,has undergone a surgery and is ready to pounce back in this competition.He is seeded 9 in this tournament.Novak Djokovic also has a similar story and will do his best to make a comeback at his favourite tournament which he has won most number of times.He is seeded 14.All three Djokovic,Wawrinka,Federer have been placed in the same half which means semi finals might be a high profile contest.Unfourtunately Andy Murray had to withdraw from this event because of hip injury.
Though injury has not left any of the players.Novak Djokovic does not seem to be completely fit.He has been out for 6 months and has not played any of the warm up tournaments.Same is the case with Nadal and Wawrinka.They do not seem to be completely fit.Nadal has been suffering from the knee injury since the World Tour Finals and it has been troubling him a lot.Wawrinka's participation is also a question because he faces injury concerns.But I believe that this is the opening event of the year and there is no point in over exerting the body and facing a injury for the rest of the year.Hence all these top players should participate only they are completely fit.
This means that like last year we can expect a lot of upsets this year also and this year's Australian Open might also be a tournament of underdogs.The foremost in my list if Juan Martin Del Potro.We had seen some of his old colours when he beat Federer in last year's Australian Open Final.He has been playing good tennis especially in the later part of 2017.I will not be surprised if he turns things around.The second player is Nick Kyrgios.He has recently won the Brisbane International and on his road he also beat Grigor Dimitrov.He will be backed by his home crowd and will have loads of  expectations on his shoulders.
The women's section of the draw is again wide open as Serena Willams is not playing this tournament.All eyes will be on Maria Sharapova and Venus Willams in the women's draw.For Sharapova this will be her first grandslam since her long ban.It will be interesting to see how she performs.
Finally if I have to pick my favourites for this tournament,I have to say Federer or Nadal and that is a contest the whole world wants to see.Nadal is surely going to have tough time against John Isner,who he might face in the the 4th round.But I do not think if Nadal is 100% fit anyone can prevent a repeat of last year's final.The player I will pick for this tournament is Roger Federer because he is the only player who is completely fit.He also has won the Hopman Cup recently.This can be his 20th grand slam but the road is surely not going to be easy.

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