The 2011 Australian Open of tennis will start on Monday January 17th and it will continue for two weeks with the men’s final scheduled for January 30th. The qualifying tournament will start several days before January 17th with the draw for qualifying events available on January 10th.

The  draw will  be released  Friday January 14th .Rafael Nadal will be the 1 seed and Roger Federer will be the 2 seed.

The three seed is still up for grabs as are all other seeds with Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray the leading candidates for semifinal seedings.

Some Wild Cards have been awarded and Ryan Harrison of the USA will be in the draw.  Harrison made headlines at the 2010 US Open when he eliminated veteran Ivan Ljubicic in the first round. Harrison may be able to make the third round if the draw aligns for him and young talent is always dangerous in tennis.

Roger Federer is the defending champion as he bested Andy Murray in the final last year in straight sets. Both of those players are among the top 8 favorites to win the first Slam of the year.

1. Rafael Nadal
2. Roger Federer
3. Andy Murray
4. Novak Djokovic
5. Juan Martin Del Potro
6. Robin Soderling
7. Andy Roddick
8. Tomas Berdych

If Nadal wins the Australian Open, he will complete a sweep of the Grand Slams that started with his French Open 2010 title. Should Federer NOT defend the Aussie then he will not have an active Slam title for first time since winning Wimbledon 2003.

Juan Martin Del Potro  has the potential to win the event. However he has missed so much tennis in the last year that his fitness level and health are big question marks.