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5 storylines entering 2023 Aussie Open

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The first major of the year has finally arrived.

The Australian Open is an opportunity for players to showcase their offseason work and set the tone for the ensuing 11 months.

Here are five storylines to watch when the action begins in Melbourne.

Djokovic's hamstring

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Novak Djokovic's body of work at the Australian Open speaks for itself. The former World No. 1 has won the tournament a record nine times, including titles in his last three appearances. He owns an 82-8 career mark at the Happy Slam and has reached the second week of play in all but three of his showings Down Under.

Djokovic is the undisputed favorite to hoist the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup and enters the first major of the season fresh off a championship run in Adelaide. However, tennis is sometimes a survival of the fittest, and Djokovic doesn't exactly have a clean bill of health.

The Serbian star battled through a hamstring injury during his semifinal win over Daniil Medvedev a week ago. The ailment flared up again Wednesday when the two participated in an exhibition practice match. Djokovic received treatment for his hamstring but ended his session with Medvedev after just 36 minutes.

Djokovic's mobility is such a key part of his game as he routinely slides laterally and forward to get extra balls in play. Can Djokovic's hamstring withstand two weeks of wear and tear?

Coco's pursuit for 1st major

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Coco Gauff's previous campaign was a significant step forward in her young career. The American phenom became the No. 1 doubles player, cracked the WTA's top five in singles play, reached her maiden Grand Slam singles final, and qualified for the year-end WTA Finals in both competitions.

Gauff has started 2023 on the right foot. In her first event as the top seed, the 18-year-old rattled off five consecutive straight-set victories, dropping only 22 games en route to the ASB Classic championship. It was her second hard-court title and third WTA crown overall. She won 90.5% of her service games and 50.5% of her return points.

Unlike the other three majors, Gauff isn't under any pressure to defend ranking points after bowing out in the opening round of last year's Australian Open. She's had some success in previous appearances, topping two-time winner Naomi Osaka during her run to the fourth round in 2020.

Gauff's got a tricky first-round opponent in Katerina Siniakova and could play Iga Swiatek in the quarterfinals. But the Polish native must first navigate through a challenging draw that may feature matchups against 2019 US Open champion Bianca Andreescu and 2022 Australian Open runner-up Danielle Collins.

Nadal's difficult draw

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Fellow top seed Rafael Nadal is also in tough as he attempts to defend his title. While the 22-time Grand Slam winner avoided a potential Djokovic encounter until the final, he's got his work cut out for him.

Nadal has an immediate challenge in rising British star Jack Draper. The 21-year-old was a semifinalist at the Next Gen Championships last November and this week's Adelaide International. It doesn't get any easier beyond Draper, with Frances Tiafoe possibly awaiting Nadal in the Round of 16. The Maryland native upset the Spaniard in four sets at the US Open last September and recently helped his country claim the inaugural United Cup.

Should Nadal advance, he'll likely square off against Hubert Hurkacz or Medvedev in the quarterfinals. The Russian pushed Nadal to the limit in last year's Australian Open title match, forcing him to rally from two sets down in a grueling five-hour clash.

A subsequent showdown with Stefanos Tsitsipas, Felix Auger-Aliassime, or Jannik Sinner is the most probable scenario. Nadal's last defeat at the Happy Slam came to Tsitsipas in the 2021 quarterfinals. Meanwhile, Auger-Aliassime won in straight sets in their latest tilt at the ATP Finals.

Despite the circumstances, it'd be foolish to count out Nadal. Twelve months ago, he played himself into form during the first week of the tournament. It wouldn't be shocking if history repeated itself.

Unseeded bracket-busters

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From former major champs to emerging talent, a handful of unseeded players could create chaos in the men's and women's brackets.

Dominic Thiem is just three years removed from his lone Grand Slam title. The Austrian finally got over the hump at the 2020 US Open, defeating Alexander Zverev in his fourth major final. His victory broke a six-year stranglehold by the Big Three and appeared to signal a changing of the guard.

Unfortunately, injuries have got the better of the big-hitting Thiem since that signature win. He showed some signs of life toward the end of last season, reaching a pair of ATP 250 semifinals to creep back into the top 100. Thiem received a main-draw wild card into the Australian Open and will take on No. 5 seed Andrey Rublev in his first-round match. The rankings may indicate a mismatch on paper, but Rublev dropped both of his tuneup matches in Adelaide and hasn't registered back-to-back wins since capturing the Gijon Open in October.

Andy Murray is another player who could crash the party. The five-time Australian Open finalist opens against Matteo Berrettini in a rematch of their third-round battle at the 2022 US Open. The Briton's result in Flushing Meadows equaled his best showing at a Grand Slam since undergoing hip surgery in 2018. Murray hasn't been the same player following the procedure, but he went toe-to-toe with Berrettini for nearly four hours last September and has four top-10 wins over the last three years.

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On the women's side, a pair of Canadians are looking to do some damage. Andreescu has battled injuries since her breakout 2019 campaign, with all three of her titles that year coming on hard courts. The World No. 42 has shown flashes of her old form, besting Petra Kvitova, Garbine Muguruza, Daria Kasatkina, and Collins in the past year. The variety in Andreescu's game makes it difficult to strategize against, and she could provide a test for Swiatek should they meet in the third round.

Her compatriot Leylah Fernandez was also derailed by injury last season. The Laval, Quebec, native looked like a serious threat at Roland Garros before sustaining a Grade 3 stress fracture in her foot during her quarterfinal clash. She returned to action a little over two months later but failed to establish any sort of momentum for the rest of the year. Fernandez kicked off 2023 in a positive direction, posting two dominant straight-sets singles wins and a runner-up showing in doubles at the ASB Classic. It may not seem like much, but stringing a few victories together gave Fernandez the confidence to make her shocking run to the 2021 US Open final.

All Aussie eyes on Kyrgios

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Last year's Australian Open was a dream scenario for the host country. Ash Barty became the first Aussie in 44 years to win the tournament's singles title. Childhood friends Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis captivated the nation on their way to the men's doubles crown.

With Barty retired and Ajla Tomljanovic sidelined due to injury, Kyrgios is the locals' best hope for singles glory this time. The 27-year-old finally put it all together in 2022, reaching his first major final at Wimbledon after years of unfulfilled potential. The result seemed to light a fire under Kyrgios as he immediately followed that up with an ATP 500 title in Washington and a career-best quarterfinal appearance in Flushing Meadows.

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