At the official draw today tennis legend John McEnroe and Serbian star Ana Ivanovic assisted tournament referee Wayne McKewen place the seeds and reveal the vital match ups for the first major of 2010.
Top seed and 15-time Grand Slam Champion Roger Federer will face Russia’s Igov Andreev in round one, with a possible match up with No.22 seed and Australian No.1 Lleyton Hewitt in the round of 16.
Hewitt will meet a qualifier first up, with the chance of running into dangerous Frenchman and No. 15 seed Gilles Simon in round three.
The rest of the Australian contingent all have tough assignments, with Peter Luczak drawn to face world No.2 and defending champion Rafael Nadal on day one.
“I was just boarding a plane coming back from Sydney and my mate told me I was playing Nadal. It took him five or six times before I believed him, so I've been a bit unlucky with the draws,” Luczak said.
“In Brisbane I had the No.1 seed, in Sydney the No.1 seed and now the No.2 seed again [in Melbourne] but that's the way it goes, I've just got to make the most of it. It should be fun, I'll be playing on centre court so I'll just give it my best shot.”
The draw doesn’t look any easier for big serving Aussie Carsten Ball – he will meet 2009 semifinalist and No.9 seed Fernando Verdasco from Spain –or 16-year-old Jason Kubler (Qld) who will make his Grand Slam debut against Croation No.24 seed Ivan Ljubicic.
Bernard Tomic (Qld) will face a qualifier, while fellow wildcards, Nick Lindahl (NSW) and Marinko Matosevic (Vic) are up against Jarko Nieminen (FIN) and Marco Chiudinelli (SUI) respectively.
Top seed and world No.1 Serena Williams will start her title defence against Poland’s Urzula Radwanska, with No. 2 seeded Dinara Safina up against Magdalena Rybarikova (SVK).
Australia’s top player and world No.13 Samantha Stosur (Qld) will play a qualifier, as will wildcard Jarmila Groth (Vic) who is returning from ankle surgery.
Australian No.2 Jelena Dokic will play No.27 seeded Russian Alisa Kleybanova, and Anastasia Rodionova (Vic) meets another powerful Russian, No.3 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova.
Wildcards Alicia Molik (Vic) and Casey Dellacqua (WA) make their Grand Slam comebacks against France’s Alize Cornet and Belarusian Anastasiya Yakimova respectively.
Eighteen-year-old Olivia Rogowska (Vic) meets world No.45 Romanian Sorana Cirstea.
Returning Belgian star and winner of last week’s Brisbane International, Kim Clijsters is up against a qualifier in the opening round, and fellow Belgian and former world No.1 Justine Henin faces another Belgian, world No. 80 Kirsten Flipkens.
