Pressure All on Hewitt to Deliver

Lleyton Hewitt, the Wimbledon champion, and Serena Williams, winner of the French Open, Wimbledon and US Open titles, would seem the overwhelming favourites to win the singles titles at the Australian Open, which begins on Monday. The American Williams' domination was the greater of the two last year at grand slam level but Hewitt deservedly retained his No1 spot throughout 2002.

There rests the case for those who like to believe that one season shifts seamlessly into the next, and that the world's two most successful players will carry on from where they left off. Hewitt's biggest obstacles after yesterday's draw are likely to be Roger Federer and Andy Roddick while Kim Clijsters looks like the only woman who can prevent another all-Williams final. The Belgian is in Serena's half of the draw.

Yet if Roland Garros, Wimbledon and the US Open may be regarded as the true classics, the Australian Open suffers from its position in the calendar. It is not quite the Lincoln Handicap, the first big horse race of the British flat season which often defies all attempts at prediction, but form rather than world ranking is at a premium. Those capable of emerging into the bright summer sunshine and immediately finding their feet have a huge advantage. This usually means they have spent the short winter break pounding the gym.

Andre Agassi's victories in 2000 and 2001 were a case in point, for nobody worked with greater determination during those Decembers. He might have won for a third successive year last January, and a fourth in all, had a last-minute wrist injury not forced him to pull out on the opening morning.

Agassi, who will be 33 in April, cannot be ruled out this time. The American is such a clean hitter of the ball, and conserves his energy so well, that age has yet to catch up with him. But it is an awfully big ask while the young men - Hewitt, Russia's Marat Safin, Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain, Switzerland's Federer, and the American Roddick are growing stronger and hungrier.

Hewitt first emerged at the Australian Open in 1997 when, just short of his 16th birthday, he became the event's youngest qualifier. Australia has not had a home-grown champion since Mark Edmondson in 1976, and the pressure on Hewitt is huge.

Tim Henman, who like Greg Rusedski will be missing with injury, has always played his best at Wimbledon, feeding on the home support and reaching four semi-finals in the last five years, whereas Hewitt has shown his worst grand slam form to his own crowds. In six attempts he has won only seven matches out of 12 and only once, in 2000, reached the last 16.

Last year's disappointment, when he lost in the first round to Alberto Martin, was predictable, with Hewitt still suffering the after-effects of chickenpox, but on this occasion the Melbourne public will be expecting to see the real world No1. If, for the first time, Hewitt reaches the second week, then the momentum may become irreversible.

Of those who might cause an upset Thailand's Paradorn Srichaphan was one of the fastest rising stars of last year, and is in excellent form. Brazil's Gustavo Kuerten, three times the French Open champion and Hewitt's likely third-round opponent, has worked hard over the last few months following a hip operation which kept him out for much of the season. And never underestimate Yevgeny Kafelnikov who, having changed his mind about retiring once Russia won the Davis Cup, will be keen, like Kuerten, to regain top-10 status. He won the title four years ago, and was runner-up in 2000.

The unpredictable nature of the men's tournament was underlined last year when Thomas Johansson, who had never gone beyond the last 64, beat Safin in the final. The Swede is out injured this year, but another anonymity could well step into the limelight.

The same caveat that applies to Hewitt's record also applies to Serena Williams, whose best performance was a quarter-final in 2001, although much has changed since. Her older sister Venus has never progressed beyond the semi-finals either and yet, for all that, a fourth successive all-Williams grand slam final is the most likely outcome, with Jennifer Capriati, the reigning champion, or Clijsters, the most likely to prevent it.

·Arvind Parmar's 6-1, 7-5 loss to Israel's Amir Hadad in the second qualifying round means there will be no male British singles representative with only the wild-card Elena Baltacha flying the flag. She opens against the 15th-seeded American Alexandra Stevenson.