Australian Open: Big guns ready for year's first Grand Slam
Melbourne: Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer witnessed Andy Murray's drought-breaking successes after he hired Ivan Lendl as coach, and decided they were due for an overhaul of a major kind.Both took on past Grand Slam
Serena Williams sought a little bit of extra guidance from a tried and trusted source closer to home this time around, spending time in the off-season with her dad, Richard Williams, in Florida to fine-tune parts of her game. "My dad has always been, for me, my greatest coach," Williams said. "He knows me better than anybody else."
Before her 2013 season, Williams worked out in Mauritius with Patrick Mouratoglou's group. After an upset loss in the quarter-finals at Melbourne Park to Sloane Stephens, she rebounded to win 78 of her 82 matches last season.
After opening 2014 with a successful title defence in Brisbane, with Mouratoglou still in the stands, Williams is confident she can end Victoria Azarenka's two-year reign at Melbourne Park.
Even in Brisbane, where she had back-to-back wins over Azarenka and Maria Sharapova, two of her biggest rivals, Williams was getting pointers long-distance from her dad. "He knew what I needed to do, he's like 'Serena, you're not doing A, B, and C; this isn't what we worked on'."
She won't get a chance to play Sharapova and Azarenka back-to-back in Melbourne, with both on the opposite side of the draw.
Williams, who hasn't lost a competitive match since August, starts her Australian Open campaign against Australian teenager Ashleigh Barty, and has 2011 US Open champion Sam Stosur and two-time Australian finalist Li Na in her half of the draw.
Critics have questioned whether Williams can this season top her achievements of 2013. She won 11 titles, including two majors, became the oldest player to be No. 1 and spent all but seven weeks atop the rankings. "I had a similar question in 2012. I had such a good year winning two Slams and a gold ... I just didn't think I could do better," she said.
Azarenka has a potential fourth-round match against Stephens, who had an upset win over Serena Williams in the quarter-finals last year. Stephens withdrew from the Hopman Cup with a left wrist problem but is expected to be fit for the season's first major.
Sharapova was content with her run to the semi-finals in Brisbane in her first tournament back from injury and working with Sven Groenefeld as coach. Her first-round match is against Bethanie Mattek-Sands.
Of the "Big Four" men, three are on a loaded top half of the draw. Nadal, who won the Qatar Open to start his season, opens against Australia's Bernard Tomic and has Murray and Federer in his half. He could meet No. 5-ranked Juan Martin del Potro, the 2009 US Open champion, in the quarter-finals.
Murray lost in the second round at Doha last week, his first tournament since minor back surgery in late September. Federer reached the final at Brisbane, where he lost to another 32-year-old former No. 1, Lleyton Hewitt.
Djokovic has what appears to be a smoother path to the final, but Becker has already advised him that there's no such thing as an easy draw at a Grand Slam. "Boris brings new, fresh approach," Djokovic said. "He is a true legend of our sport ... and his experience will help me win new trophies."
Djokovic is aiming to be the first man in the Open era to win five Australian titles. He was in peak form at the end of last season, finishing on a 24-match winning streak after losing the US Open final to Nadal.
With Murray saying it would be "unrealistic" for him to be considered a top contender for the Australian title, and 17-time major winner Federer saying he probably wouldn't be back in peak form until March or April, Nadal looms as the main obstacle to Djokovic's fourth straight Australian title.
Nadal missed the 2013 edition due to injury, so his last match at Melbourne Park was a 5-hour, 53-minute five-set defeat to Djokovic in the 2012 final.
It has been a decade since Federer won his first Australian title - something he commemorated with a fundraising exhibition match in front of 14,000 fans on Rod Laver Arena this week.
After slipping out of the year-end top five for the first time since 2002 and winning just one title, Federer realised he needed a fresh approach. So he called in Edberg, one of his childhood idols, to help out.
"I really feel I'm on my way back. Who knows? Maybe I'm playing my very best in March or April is my feeling," Federer said. "But I still feel there's a lot possible right now."