Men’s Singles Draw:  the top four seeds does not include Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, a very unusual sight for many fans; however, not unexpected given their injuries in 2016.  The number one seed Andy Murray gets Illya Marchenko in R1 but I don’t expect him to have any problems getting to R2/R3.  Roger Federer is lurking in his quarter but there is a lot of tennis before they could potentially meet.   Novak Djokovic is the number two seed and he will play Fernando Verdasco, the always dangerous Spaniard who dispatched of Nadal in R1 last year.   Will this be the big upset of the tournament?  The number three seed is Milos Raonic; he will play Dreddy Tennis in R1, which could potentially be exciting and an upset if Dustin Brown brings his “A” game.  If he gets by Brown, he will face another dangerous opponent in R2.  The fourth seed is Stan Wawrinka.  He gets Martin Klizan in R1; however, I don’t see him as much of a threat since he has not been performing close to his top form for quite a while now.

Women’s Singles Draw:  The number one seed Angelique Kerber faces Lesia Tsurenko in R1.  Tsurenko may push her but I expect her to get to R2/R3 easily. It is strange to see Serena Williams at the other end as the number two seed.   Her R1 opponent is Belinda Bencic who beat her the last time they met; thus, this is a very tough first round opponent for Serena. The third seed Agnieszka Radwanska gets Tsvetana Pironkova who beat her the last time they met on clay; however, she has never beaten her on hard court, so I expect Radwanska to get to R2.  The fourth seed Simona Halep gets a dangerous R1 opponent in American, Shelby Rogers.

Expect to see some juicy first round matches with the potential for early upsets if the top seeds are not in top form.

SOURCE OF IMAGE: Bing search/Zimbio