Rafael Nadal is among "some of the game's biggest names racing the clock to make the Australian Open start line" as the world's tennis elite "prepare to joust" for a record A$60M ($46.3M) summer purse, according to Darren Walton of the AAP. Roger Federer will headline the Hopman Cup in Perth "when the first of five Open lead-up events gets under way on Saturday." While 36-year-old Federer "should arrive refreshed and ready" for his Open title defense after a "soothing family holiday," many of his rivals "remain under serious fitness clouds." After "pulling the pin" one match into his World Tour Finals campaign in London last month, world No. 1 Nadal continues to "battle a worrying knee injury." He was scheduled to "sweat it out with Joao Sousa" but reportedly told the Portuguese he "still isn't ready to practice." Five-time runner-up Andy Murray has not played since Wimbledon and delayed his departure from Britain as he "continues to struggle with a chronic hip injury." Frustrated by his agonizing run of near misses, Murray, now ranked 16th, planned to arrive in Australia "much earlier than I have done in the past." Like Murray, triple grand slam champion and 2014 Open winner Stan Wawrinka has not "been sighted" since Wimbledon and, "adding to the concern, the Swiss withdrew from Abu Dhabi with an ongoing knee issue." The good news for fans is Novak Djokovic is "chomping at the bit" to return from his six-month layoff to challenge for an unprecedented seventh men's Open crown.It is "not just the leading men in doubt." Two-time Open champion and former world No. 1 Victoria Azarenka is also "mooted for her grand slam comeback" after missing the US Open while "locked in a custody battle for her son Leo with her ex- partner" (AAP, 12/25). The BBC reported Serena Williams will return to tennis in Abu Dhabi this week, "almost four months after giving birth." She will play world No. 7 Jelena Ostapenko in an exhibition match on Dec. 30 during the Mubadala World Tennis Championship. Williams said that she was "delighted to be returning to the court" (BBC, 12/24).
