It is prime time again. As the opening grand slam of the year gets underway in Melbourne on Monday, fans will be glued to a few fascinating storylines.
Novak Djokovic’s quest for his seventh Australian Open men’s singles title does indeed make for a great headline. And so does Andy Murray’s bid to exorcise the spectre of five defeats in finals over the past seven years.
Then, of course, there is the fascinating narrative of the return after time away of both Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal and how they both fare, with doubts on whether they can return to the top of the game.
It seems like always it is all about those Big Four, even though Nadal is seeded No 9 and Federer is down at No 17 in the seeds, is it not?
But lest we forget, the last man to lift a grand slam trophy is not one of them. It is Stan Wawrinka, and he was not an accidental champion at the US Open. He deservedly beat Djokovic in four sets in September’s final, meting out the same treatment to the Serb he had delivered in winning the 2015 French Open.
Wawrinka has an Australian Open crown as well, defeating Nadal in the 2014 final. The world No 4, thus has a 100 per cent (3-0) record in major finals, and yet, he has been a mere footnote in the build-up to the tournament.
Statistically, he has won as many majors as world No 1 Murray, but, of course, he does not even come close to the consistency of the Briton, or his Big Four peers, have shown over the past dozen years, but the Swiss player will certainly fancy his chances of a good shot at a fourth major.
Also watch out for Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, 24, and his one-handed backhands, which are as good as Wawrinka’s and can cause as much damage.
Blessed with incredible shot-making ability, Dimitrov was once considered the chief of Generation Next, but he has not really delivered on that promise yet.
The coming two weeks, however, could herald a new beginning.
The world No 15 has just brought his two-and-a-half-year title drought to an end in Brisbane, defeating three top 10s — No 8 Dominic Thiem, No 3 Milos Raonic and No 5 Kei Nishikori — on his way to the title. So confidence will be high and, like Wawrinka, Dimitrov has the game to take down anyone on his day.
There are a few others who could take the spotlight in Melbourne, and Canadian Raonic should certainly be at the top of the list.
He has been one the most consistent performers, reaching the Wimbledon final last year before losing to Murray.
He also lost to the Scot in the Australian Open semi-finals 12 months ago, taking the match to the fifth set despite a hip injury.
Raonic had a match point against Murray in their ATP World Tour Final semi-final in November, and these pre-Australian Open conversations would have looked a lot different had he grabbed that opportunity.
Hopefully, he has learnt from those moments.
And hopefully Nick Kyrgios has learnt his lessons, too. The Australian has abundance of talent and every member of the tennis elite, from Federer to Murray, has attested to that.
But is he mentally, and physically, ready to become the first Australian to win the men’s crown since Mark Edmondson in 1976?
They will be hoping Kyrgios steps up and takes his legitimate place at the head of a young brigade that also counts Thiem and Alexander Zverev among its stars for the future.
arizvi@thenational.ae