THE STAGE TO SET THE TONE

HEAVY IS THE HEAD...

Defending champion Roger Federer says rivals Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic should be seen as leading contenders for the Australian Open as he is too old to be considered favourite.

The 36-year-old is bidding for a record 20th Grand Slam title and is in form and fit, unlike the Spaniard and the Serb who enter the tournament under injury clouds. But the Swiss said that at his age and in his 19th Australian Open, he liked to play down his chances.

"With age, I feel like I play down my chances just because I don't think a 36-year-old should be a favourite of a tournament, it should not be the case," the world number two said Sunday. "That's why I see things more relaxed, you know, at a later stage of my career.

"I feel like maybe somebody like a Rafa, with the year that he's had, and Novak with the six titles he's had here, even if it's unknown how he's feeling, they could very well be the favourites, too."

STARTING FROM ZERO

Top seed Rafael Nadal starts the Australian Open next week for the first time in his career without playing a warm-up tournament, and no uncle Toni by his side. But the Spanish star said Saturday he feels good and his motivation remains strong.

"It's the first time I am here without playing an official match in my career. It's a new situation for me. But I feel good," he said.

"For me, the Australian Open always, if you are not 100 per cent motivated to play this tournament, you probably you don't love this sport," the 31-year-old added.

But he knows anything can happen so early in the season, despite being the top ranked player in the world.

"Everyone starts from zero. I start from zero again. It's the start of a new season, an exciting one. I hope to be healthy and competitive, and most important thing, I hope to enjoy tennis one more year."

The Spaniard did have a tune-up, with organisers obliging his request to play a game under match conditions.

READY TO BATTLE THE BEST

Six-time Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic says he's excited to be back after a long injury-enforced break, admitting he has missed the "fire and passion" of competitive tennis.

Djokovic said his elbow injury got to the point where the pain on his serve was becoming unbearable, with a sustained period of rest the only cure.

"It hasn't been 100 per cent yet healed. But right now it's at the level where I can compete, and every day is getting better," he said.

He added that he did not know whether he would be able to compete at the highest level.

"Throughout the tournament, I don't know how it's going to behave. Even if it's 100 per cent healed, after six months of no competition, you never know."

But his confidence is high and he warned he could still go far.

"I still know what I'm capable of, and I believe in my own abilities to win against the best players in the world," he said ahead of his opening round clash.

GUNNING FOR A FIRST

Giant German Alexander Zverev has been widely tipped for greatness but has so far failed to go beyond a Grand Slam fourth round -- something he plans to fix at the Australian Open. The 20-year-old heads into the year's first Grand Slam ranked fourth in the world, courtesy of five titles last year.

His progress has marked him out as the most likely of the current crop of youngsters to translate his talent into major titles and while he made the fourth round at Wimbledon last year, he is yet to push on further.

"I think improving the Grand Slam performances," he said at Melbourne Park when asked what his key goal was for the year. "I've showed on multiple occasions over the year that I can play and beat the best guys in the world. I mean, I'm number four in the world for a reason," he said.

"I'm not trying to sound cocky or anything, but I've always said that I've always been working hard physically, I'm always trying to improve the performance at the Grand Slams.

WHO WILL FILL THE VACUUM LEFT BY SERENA?

Simona Halep will sport her "lucky" red dress and Caroline Wozniacki says she is playing better than ever as both aim for a first Grand Slam victory when the Australian Open starts on Monday.

The world's two top-ranked players will spearhead the charge to succeed Serena Williams at year's first major left wide open by the withdrawal of the defending champion and new mum.

Last year there were two first-time major-winners while Serena was on maternity leave -- Jelena Ostapenko at the French Open and Sloane Stephens at the US Open.

Wimbledon champion and world number three Garbine Muguruza is battling injury problems which could further aid Halep's hopes.

And the 26-year-old Romanian, who currently has no clothing sponsor, confirmed she would wear the same "lucky" red dress in Australia that she used while registering a dominant victory at the Shenzhen Open a fortnight ago.

But lucky dress or not, she will need to overcome her poor record at Melbourne Park where she has lost in the first round in both of the past two years when she opens on Tuesday against Australian wildcard Destinee Aiava.

Former number one Wozniacki is riding high in the rankings again after reaching eight finals in 2017, with victories in Tokyo in September and at the season-ending Tour Championship.

She lost in the Auckland Classic final last week to Germany's Julia Goerges, but said the rain-disrupted tournament had been tough, ideal preparation.

Former champions aiming to go deep into the tournament include evergreen 37-year-old Venus Williams, who last won a Slam in 2008 but last year reached two finals -- in Melbourne and Wimbledon -- to get back to world number five, and Angelique Kerber.

Victory for Venus would see her eclipse Ken Rosewall as the oldest player ever to win a major.