The Australian Open Tennis Tournament is the Grand Slam of the Asia Pacific. This is the first of the four majors in tennis held every third week of January. This year, the tournament runs from January 16 - 29. This is a hard court event held at Melbourne Park.
It's sad that Venus Williams is out of the tournament because of her autoimmune disease. It's always a delight to watch the Williams sisters play doubles and play against each other on singles. Although Serena Williams is playing this year, I have doubts with her physical condition. For the women, I am rooting for Victoria Azarenka and Petra Kvitova. 2011 women's champion is Kim Clijsters.
All time favorite and 16 grand slam title holder Roger Federer breezed through the first round against Alexander Kudryavtsev in straight sets this afternoon. I'm really hoping for Federer to win this year. But I guess it will not be easy because Rafael Nadal is in good shape and Novak Djokovic is the defending champion.