tennis gut

  With 15 former slam champions in the draw, this tournament might seem wide open.   We could even get a new slam champion:   I can think of at least eight likely candidates, headed by Svitolina, Pliskova, and Sabalenka.   And yet there are some distinct favourites.   First Quarter Ekaterina Alexandrova (seeded 29) is one of those eight players who could claim her first slam here.   She had a breakout week, blitzing the reigning Wimbledon and French Open champions, Halep and Swiatek, in straight sets.   She’s seeded to meet Ash Barty (1) in the third round.   Barty made the semis here last year.   Barty is into the final of one of the three warm-up tournaments being played on site, so it’s reasonable to expect her to bring some of her best to the coming fortnight.   Can the current #1 add a second slam title? Three more of my eight potential first-time slam winners are in this quarter, Karolina Pliskova (6), Elise Mertens (18), and Belinda Bencic (11).   Bencic hasn’t looke

  Novak Djokovic has won the title eight times.   But last year Dominic Thiem led two sets to one in the final before Djokovic out-battled him.   Rafael Nadal destroyed Novak in Paris, can the Spaniard keep that mojo going?   First Quarter Of the four slams, the Aus Open is where Milos Raonic (seeded 14) has his best match-winning percentage, making at least the quarter-finals five times. But the draw has been unkind and he could meet Stan Wawrinka (17) in the third round and Djokovic (1) in the fourth, in what is probably the toughest eighth of the draw.   Wawrinka looked very strong in his warm-up event, from which he withdrew in the quarters.   Alexander Zverev (6) had by far his best showing in the slams last year, making semis here and the final of the US Open.   He looked strong in the ATP Cup the week before the tournament, losing narrowly to Djokovic 7-5 in the third. Djokovic ‘should’ emerge from this quarter, despite having two losses to Zverev (4-2) and six to Wa