Dateline: 01/13/00

The Australian Open starts Monday in Melbourne, but the singles draw will be missing Patrick Rafter, Monica Seles, and Venus Williams due to injuries. With a shoulder still recovering from surgery in October, Rafter is playing a little doubles now, but is not ready for singles and will probably not play in the Open's doubles either. Seles has an injured foot, and Williams has tendonitis in her wrist.

With Venus out, her sister Serena takes her spot as the third seed in the tournament draw. Above her on the women's side are Lindsay Davenport at #2 and Martina Hingis at #1. On the men's side, Andre Agassi tops the list, followed by Yevgeny Kafelnikov then Pete Sampras. Evidencing his upsurge in the rankings, Nicolas Kiefer of Germany has the fourth seeding.

Among the unseeded players, one who will be watched with great interest is Jennifer Capriati, whose victories over Martina Hingis and Mary Pierce last week in Hong Kong add further credibility to her comeback. In the Adidas International at Sydney yesterday, Capriati lost a close contest for a spot in the quarterfinals to Anna Kournikova. Anna's quarterfinal opponent will be Alexandra Stevenson, the young American who became an instant sensation by reaching the semifinals at Wimbledon last year.

In the "you heard it here first" department, how about the name Ivan Ljubicic? He just scored a huge upset at Sydney by taking out defending champion Todd Martin in the second round. Nicolas Lapenti is the only Australian Open seed still in the Sydney draw, while most of the others are playing in the Colonial Classic, an invitational warmup in Melbourne. The most notable, though slight, upset in the Colonial is Kafelnikov's loss to Mark Phillipoussis. Agassi's play at the Colonial indicates that he is in good form.

ESPN will start TV coverage of the Australian Open on Sunday. Unfortunately, most of the broadcasts will come after midnight for those of us in the eastern US, but that's what VCRs are for.

Do you have a favorite for this year's Australian? Stop by the forum to let us know.

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