By Nick Mulvenney
SYDNEY (Reuters) - There will be upsets, there will be drama, there will be cheers and there will be tears, but most eyes at the Australian Open will be on whether Rafa Nadal can succeed where so many great players before him have failed.
While second seed Federer appears in rude health, there are health concerns about Nadal, even if this year it is a flu virus, not his knees, that has disrupted his preparations.
The Spaniard has no doubt he will be on court next week for his first round match against Brazilian Marcos Daniel and like all great champions his focus is on winning tennis matches, not on the annals of the game.
"My motivation is the Australian Open, that's my motivation," the top seed croaked to reporters in Melbourne on Friday.
"Nothing bigger than this -- not because last year I had an injury, not because I have the chance to win the fourth grand slam in a row.
"For me the pressure is the same every tournament. The pressure is my pressure. I want to play well, to do the right things and we will see."
Serbian Novak Djokovic, the 2008 champion at Melbourne Park, last year's runner up Andy Murray and twice French Open losing finalist Robin Soderling round out the top five seeds and all have the game to challenge the top two on any given day.
The Australian Open has thrown up a surprise finalist or two in recent years and the likes of last year's Wimbledon runner up Tomas Berdych and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga could go deep.
BASER METAL
If men's tennis is enjoying a golden age, you would have to reach for a baser metal to describe the state of the women's game.
The absence of last year's winner and five-times champion Serena Williams through injury leaves the battle for the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup trophy wide open.
Dane Caroline Wozniacki is the top seed courtesy of her number one ranking, the latest in a series of players to have reached the summit of the women's game without having won a grand slam.
The bookmakers favor Kim Clijsters and the 27-year-old Belgian has looked in prodigious form at the Sydney International, while the other top seeds have either eschewed the traditional warm-ups or made early exits.
The U.S. Open champion has shown since her return from retirement in 2009 that she has lost none of her mental strength, which should hold her in good stead in her first round match against another former number one Dinara Safina.
"She reached two grand slam finals last year, which is pretty good and she's not the one anyone expects but I think she can really do something," he told Reuters.
"Of course, I think we have to make Clijsters favorite and Wozniacki is going to win grand slams but I am not sure she is ready yet. But there are a few who can win."
After a long barren stretch, Australia also have a top five challenger in Sam Stosur and she is confident she can end the 32-year wait for a local champion.
"I'm going to go in there thinking I can (win it)," she said. "But there's a long way from thinking you can do it and playing a first round to holding the trophy at the end."
Nadal knows that all too well, which is why he is not given to making predictions.
Were Nadal to achieve what only American Don Budge (1938) and Rod Laver (1962 and 1969) have before, however, there could hardly be a more appropriate arena on which to do it than the one named after the Australian great.
(Editing by Peter Rutherford)
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