Call it Youth vs. Experience. The Australian Open’s top two seeds — No. 1 Novak Djokovic and No. 2 Andy Murray — will open against some of the ATP World Tour’s hottest young stars, Djokovic facing hard-hitting Korean Hyeong Chung (19) and Murray challenging German wunderkind and ATP Stars of Tomorrow Presented By Emirates award winner Alexander Zverev (18). Potential third-round clashes include Roger Federer vs. Grigor Dimitrov and Tomas Berdych vs. Nick Kyrgios. Croatia’s Marin Cilic could face countryman Borna Coric in the second round.

TOP HALF

1^st Quarter

Defending champ Djokovic, winner of four of the past five Aussie Opens, comes into the 2016 edition playing the best tennis of his career. A historic 82-6 season behind him, he’s already won Doha and will be a strong favorite in Melbourne from the start. But the Serb’s section of the draw is chock-full of talent. Beyond his opener with Chung, should he get through the match, awaits Andreas Seppi, who shocked Federer in reaching the fourth round in Melbourne last year, Gilles Simon, 2008 finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Comeback Player of the Year Benoit Paire, Guillermo Garcia-Lopez and potential quarter-final foe Kei Nishikori, who’ll have his hands full against German veteran Philipp Kohlschreiber in the opening round.

2^nd Quarter

Could a Federer vs. Djokovic semi-final be in the works? The No. 3-seeded Swiss has landed in the same half of the draw as his longtime rival, against whom he’s an even 22-22 in FedEx ATP Head2Head encounters. But much has to go the 17-time Slam champ’s way if a 45^th meeting with Nole is to come to pass. Federer could face Dimitrov in the third round. Beyond the Bulgarian could lie rising Austrian Dominic Thiem, Belgian Davis Cup hero David Goffin, Cilic, Coric, Roberto Bautista Agut, the mercurial Kyrgios or 2015 quarter-finalist Berdych.

BOTTOM HALF

3^rd Quarter

No. 4 seed Stan Wawrinka, the 2014 champion, would love to add to his trophy case in Melbourne. The Chennai champion will open against Dmitry Tursunov, who’ll play his first Grand Slam since the 2014 US Open, with possible meetings with rising American Jack Sock, Viktor Troicki, Milos Raonic (who appears to be coming into his own after downing Federer for the Brisbane title), dangerous floater Kevin Anderson, Gael Monfils or Jeremy Chardy.  If the seeds hold up he would face No. 5 seed Rafael Nadal in the quarter-finals. That is if Rafa survives his opener against fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco. It was in 2009 that the countrymen battled for more than five hours in one of the most memorable Australian Open semi-finals of all time, Nadal winning in five dramatic sets 6-7(4), 6-4, 7-6(2), 6-7(1), 6-4 before going on to win the title.  

4^th Quarter

Murray has come oh-so-close to raising the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup on no less than four occasions, finishing as runner-up in 2010-11, 2013 and 2015. Yes, fatherhood is looming and the World No. 2 insists he’ll hop a plane if he has to if his expectant wife, Kim, goes into labour. But the Brit baseliner appears as fit and focused as can be expected. He could face No. 8-seeded Spaniard David Ferrer in the quarter-finals, though Zverev, Joao Sousa, Fabio Fognini, Bernard Tomic (a Top 20 seeding for first time at a major), John Isner (a top-10 seed in Richard Gasquet’s absence), Feliciano Lopez or Steve Johnson might have other plans for this ultra-competitive quadrant. Of course, all eyes will be on Lleyton Hewitt. His No. 306 ranking aside, as he heads into his 20^th — and last — Australian Open, the 34-year-old will surely be itching to make one last run. He’ll open against fellow Aussie James Duckworth. The oft-injured Brian Baker will make his much anticipated return to tour-level competition in this quarter of the draw after a three-year absence, facing Italy’s Simone Bolelli in the first round. 

First Round Matches To Keep An Eye On:

Novak Djokovic vs. Hyeon Chung

Rafael Nadal vs. Fernando Verdasco

Kei Nishikori vs. Philipp Kohlschreiber

Andy Murray vs. Alexander Zverev

Fabio Fognini vs. Gilles Muller

Milos Raonic vs. Lucas Pouille

Lleyton Hewitt vs. James Duckworth

Steve Johnson vs. Aljaz Bedene

John Isner vs. Jerzy Janowicz

Bernard Tomic vs. Denis Istomin

Gilles Simon vs. Vasek Pospisil

As far back as I can remember, I wanted a pet. Honestly — for the longest time, it’s all I wanted in the entire world. It really didn’t even matter to me what it was. It was more the concept of it that seemed exciting. To have this animal companion, who was your best friend … what could possibly be better than that?

When I was 10, I finally got one: a hamster named Whiskey. At first, Whiskey mostly just lived in his cage. And I’d spend hours with him — watching him, playing with him, talking to him, feeding him. But after a while, in my mind, the cage began to seem too restrictive. I wanted Whiskey to be able to run free and hang out like a human.

(I’m 10, remember.)

We had one of those big, old-fashioned sinks in our bedroom. And so I tried to rig it with a rope holding down the drain, so that Whiskey could play in the sink. I thought it was brilliant, and Whiskey seemed to be having a great time — a real win-win.

(Again, 10.)

Of course, my sound logic did not completely hold up. It probably won’t shock you to learn that a few weeks later, Whiskey ended up solving the rig and managed to scurry all the way down the drain of the sink.

Read Full Article In The Players’ Tribune 

Ten-year-old me was just devastated that he was gone. We set up a trap, with cheese — not one that would kill him, but just catch him so we could bring him home to safety — but never had any luck. Every time we tried it, the next morning the cheese would be gone … and there would be no Whiskey. It just wasn’t meant to be, I guess. Looking back, I like to think that if Whiskey was smart enough to beat the trap, then he was smart enough to make it on his own.

If you’re not an animal person, you might laugh at this. But I can still vividly remember how sad I was about it. It really felt like I had lost a friend.

Even at 10 years old, I knew: while animals aren’t human, that doesn’t mean they aren’t alive. There’s just something about them. If you get it, you get it. And I got it early on. I’ve loved animals ever since.

Read The Rest Of Murray’s Article In The Players’ Tribune

Don’t miss out on following the Australian Open draw ceremony Friday at 11:00 a.m. local time (Thursday 12 midnight GMT, 7:00 p.m. ET).

Play was cancelled due to rain on Friday shortly after 8 p.m. local time at the Apia International Sydney. Only one doubles match had been completed.

It will be double duty for ATP World Tour players on Friday, with top seed Bernard Tomic kicking off play tomorrow at 10:30 a.m. local time against Teymuraz Gabashvili.

Quarter-final winners will also have to play their semi-finals on Friday, as the final is scheduled for Saturday.

When play was suspended due to rain, third seed and defending champion Viktor Troicki was locked at 2-2 in the first set against Nicolas Mahut. Fourth seed Grigor Dimitrov was leading Alexandr Dolgopolov 4-6, 6-3, 4-2. Gilles Muller had taken the first set 7-6(5) against sixth seed Jeremy Chardy.

Fourth seeds Rohan Bopanna and Florin Mergea, who reached the title match at last year’s Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, advanced to the semi-finals with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Sam Groth and John Peers.

Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares were leading Matt Reid and Jordan Thompson 6-4, 3-3 when play was suspended.