Your Officially Unofficial Aussie Open Preview

By Jim Ryan
Lace up your Rod Lavers and throw another shrimp on the barbie -- Grand Slam tennis returns this week with the Australian Open.
The Australian never quite has the feel of a full-blown Slam, perhaps because marquee matches often are broadcast in the U.S. on tape delay or live at three in the morning. Plus, unlike, say, the Masters – the first major tournament on golf’s calendar -- the Australian begins during the third week of the season, so there’s little buildup for the event.
The Australian is quite similar to the Masters in that one man has about a 50 percent chance of winning. People should be calling Tiger Woods the Roger Federer of golf. King Rog is only two Slams short of Pete Sampras’ record 14, so it’s entirely possible he could pass Sampras before his 27th birthday this August.
What other men could make a run at the Australian title? No. 2 seed Rafael Nadal has been more successful at Wimbledon than the hardcourt Slams, and I would kind of like No. 4 seed Andy Roddick if his potential semifinal match with the Spaniard came to fruition. To win it all, Roddick probably would need someone to knock off his nemesis Federer before the finals. Help in that respect could come from either No. 3 seed Novak Djokovic or No. 10 seed David Nalbandian. The tubby Argentine won consecutive Masters Series titles at the end of last season but battled back spasms last week.
On the women’s side, good luck beating No. 1 seed Justine Henin, though either Venus Williams or a heartbroken Serena – the defending champion -- could do it.
And there’s always last year’s runner-up, Maria Sharapova. Mentioning her gives me an excuse to embed the following video of a match between Sharapova and fellow leggy Eastern European Daniela Hantuchova from the 2006 Australian. Bobby Riggs would be pleased with all the progress we’ve made:

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