For 11-straight days we will be able to watch a daily coverage of the best tennis in the world played at Melbourne Park, Australia. This is the very first Grand Slam of the year 2008 and it comes full of expectations for many of us; as the questions keep arising on whether Federer will conquer his third Australian Slam or will the crown be passed on to another alike such as: the Serb Djokovick or the 2007 best come back of the year the Argentinean Nalbandian or the United States’ best-hope Roddick or even the full-recovered Ranging Bull the Spaniard Rafael Nadal.



Besides all the expectation and glamour such an event carries along; the Australian Open presents a completely new cushioned acrylic outdoors surface known as Plexicushion; this type of surface will have better consistency and less preservation of heat which has always been a major complain throughout the Slam’s history. The event takes place during the hot Australian summer and the temperatures easily rise and this cause the players to dehydrate faster and to slow down their game while playing.

In these final hours before the Slam begins; most players have already got their game plans ready to go. But, there are some exception to the rule for example world’s number one and the strongest candidate to win the tournament Roger Federer has just recently began his warm up as he missed his usual entry at the Kooyong exhibition due to an illness. "I definitely think it's going to turn for the good and I'll be 100% really, before the tournament," Federer said.

Meanwhile, his major counterparts have been playing regularly. Rafael Nadal has reached the final at Chennai, India, just last week while Novak Djokovic helped Serbia achieve the Hopman Cup final in Perth. US number six Andy Roddick defeated Marat Safin in the second round of Kooyong just three days ago.

Up to this point the one player most followers believe has the better chances to beat Federer is Novak Djokovick; he has indeed shown the world his continuous growing skills while achieving his best performance in 2007 beating the top three players Federer, Nadal and Roddick in Montreal and making history as it was the first time since 1994 a player beat the top three at the same tournament.

"There are a lot of good players around the world who are trying to improve, who are trying to get as far as they can in a Grand Slam,". "I need to improve my volley game a little bit more." Djokovic said

There is no doubt these great players will make the Australian Slam an event worth viewing. No matter what happens we are before an important piece of tennis history which is about to be written; either Federer conquers it or anyone the Aussie hard courts keep getting hotter.