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Andy Murray will be looking to go one step further in this year’s Australian Open than he did last year, when he lost out to Novak Djokovic in the final.
Murray is yet to win a grand-slam event, and will hope that 2012 is the year he breaks that hoodoo.
He goes into the tournament as the fourth seed behind Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, but will still be confident he can shine on the hard court surfaces upon which he usually shines.
The first round of fixtures sees Murray go head to head with the 19-year-old, Ryan Harrison of the United States on Tuesday.
This will be a game that the Scot will certainly feel he should win, especially if he has real aspirations of reaching the tournament’s latter stages.
However, world number 84, Harrison will surely have other ideas, and will be looking to spring an upset by knocking out one of the pre-tournament favourites early on.
Harrison, born in Louisiana, is considered by many to be one of the game’s bright young talents, and has worked his way up the rankings since turning professional back in 2007 when he was just 16 years of age.
In 2010 he qualified for the US Open, and caused one of the biggest upsets of the competition when he defeated Ivan Ljubicic in the first round.
Last year, he picked up his maiden tournament victory, beating Alex Kuznetsov to win the Honolulu Challenger, before reaching the second round of Wimbledon.
This will be the first time that he meets Murray, and he will undoubtedly know what a tough task this is likely to be for him.
Murray has changed up his back-room team for 2012; bringing in former world number one, Ivan Lendl as his head coach.
Of his Czechoslovakia born coach, Murray said: “When you have a more specified coach that’s going to be there all the time, it’s just an extra bit of leadership there. I think it’s good for all the guys I work with as well.”
“A lot of the stuff goes through him. I think we see a lot of things pretty similar. He doesn’t need to be always coming to me and saying, ‘do you want this, do you need this?’
“So he’s probably given the team a bit of extra leadership, and it’s been good for them to have him around as well.”
Match Winner
Murray is without doubt the bookmakers favourite for this game, with SportingBet offering odds of 1.20 (1/50) that he will emerge victorious.
Harrison will believe he can cause an upset, with Bet365 making him available at tempting odds of 13.00 (12/1).
Sets
Most bookies are convinced that this match will not go the distance with odds of 1.25 (1/4) that it will be over in three sets.
SkyBet are offering 4.00 (3/1) that it will last four sets, while BoyleSportswill give you 8.00 (7/1) if you think this one is going to go all the way (5 sets).
Recommended Bets
With many expecting this to be a walk over for Murray, what are the chances of Harrison giving him a bit of a run for his money? Ladbrokes are offering odds of 3.00 (2/1) that there will be a tie break at some point in the game.
If Harrison is able to put up a fight, then this game might well end up going to five sets. For Murray to win the match three sets to two, you can get a tempting 15.00 (14/1) with Paddy Power.
