The Australian Open has been played since 1905 and it features men’s, women’s and mixed doubles’ competitions on outdoor hard courts. The main two courts used for the tennis matches are: Rod Laver Arena and Vodafone Arena both have retractable roofs in case of extreme weather conditions such as: rain or intense heat; which is a very likely possibility due to the time of the year in which the tournament takes place.

This year’s Australian Grand Slam takes place in Melbourne from January 14-27 and it brings a whole new mix of possibilities as all the top 100 men and 99 of the top 100 women will attend. Among the males, we have the best top five with three-time champion Roger Federer heading the list, closely followed by the Spaniard Nadal, the Serbian Novak Djokovic, the Russian Nikolay Davydenko and the American Andy Roddick. But not only the best ones have good chances to move forward in the competition; others such as: Lleyton Lewitt, Andy Murray, and the two 2007 rising talents David Nalbandian and David Ferrer have great chances to play king Federer in the semi finals or even the finals.

"It's fantastic news to know that all of the world's best tennis players are coming to Melbourne in January for the Australian Open," said Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley.

The men's field will be completed by 16 qualifiers and eight wildcards, while the women's field has 12 qualifiers and eight wildcards.

Besides the tennis stars who will be part of the competition there are other important aspects to mention; for example the surface at Rebound Ace will be replaced for a cushioned acrylic one; the players will have more stability and it will be cooler and the prize money totals USD 17,575,000 or 11,978,925 Euros.