Australia serves it up hot!

It's mid-January and the mercury is taking a dip on this side of the hemisphere, which means that it's time for sweltering tennis on the other side of the world. It also means that it's time for another "episode" from Andy Roddick. Australia tends to bring out the best in Roddick, from trashy locker rooms to yelling at officials. Yesterday was no exception as the young American took veteran chair umpire Carlos Ramos to task quite heatedly, when Ramos tried to cool Roddick down saying, "I think we should end this discussion," the American, who's words were picked up by the chair microphone, "We'll end this conversation when you say something intelligent."

While some may point to Roddick's behaviour as following the American tradition laid down by John McEnroe, Roddick's behaviour is singularly self-serving (McEnroe at least sometimes deliberately blew points in the face of what he considered bad officiating). Until Roddick learns to carry himself with more deportment and aplomb, he will continue to rank on the outside of the tennis greats. That, and a few more majors.

Serena Williams found herself on the comeback trail yet again, with many questions surrounding her fitness prior to her first round match. Allow she easily defeated her opponent we were all surprised that her bright outfit was not being used to power a small country's energy grid.

Speaking of outfits, it looks like Mary Sharapova ought to spend more time preparing for the extreme heat of Australia, and less time detailing her wardrobe for the benefit of international
media. While Camille Pin appeared fresh well into the fifth set of their first round match despite the withering heat, Sharapova looked ready to pull an Andy Murray and spew. Even on the verge of vomiting, Sharapova still showed more poise than Roddick.

Williams, by appearing fit and healthy for the first time in months, joins Marat Safin in an unusually low draw. Safin, who spent much of last year hurt and unable to defend his ranking, is coming off a stellar Davis Cup appearance where he helped Russia win the Davis Cup. Both of these former number ones could make good runs towards the final. Also capable of making a surprise run could be any number of players in the bottom quarter of the men's draw where Rafael Nadal is suspected of spending too much time contemplating Federer and not enough on his game. If Nadal falls early, that will open the door for James Blake, Lleyton Hewitt, Andy Murray, or even Fernando "Gonzo" Gonzalez.

As usual, we are backing our favourites, Safin and Hingis, while Bassano del Grappa cheers on his countrywomen Maria Elena Camerin.