Australians looking for local heroes at their home Grand Slam may have a tough time this year.
Best hope is 5th-seeded Samantha Stosur, whose star appears to be rising after a French Open final loss and a quarterfinals appearance at the U.S. Open last year helped her to end the year in the top 10.
But home crowd optimism that an Australian might win the national title for the first time in decades will be sorely tested elsewhere at Melbourne's Rod Laver arena.
Former No. 1-ranked Lleyton Hewitt has struggled to regain his best form after hip surgery a year ago sent his rankings plummeting. Unseeded here, Hewitt faces a tough challenge in Monday's first round against old rival David Nalbandian of Argentina.
And in a rarity, none of Australia's lower-ranked players has advanced through the qualifying tournament for a spot in the maindraw.
The result means only four Australians have made it to the tournament on the merit of their rankings - Stosur, Hewitt, Jarmila Groth and Anastasia Rodionova.
Wildcards were handed to another 10: Peter Luczak, Bernard Tomic, Carsten Ball, Marinko Matosevic and Matthew Ebden in the men's singles and Jelena Dokic, Alicia Molik, Sophie Ferguson, Olivia Rogowska and Sally Peers in the women's.
''I know there's more spotlight on me and on my matches, but most people are wanting me to do well and I think that's a good position to be in,'' said Stosur, who became the first Australian woman to reach a Grand Slam final in 30 years at Roland Garros. ''Australians love their sport and getting behind our athletes so I'm glad I can be one of those people.''
Greater pressure comes along with higher rankings, she said.
''Right from when I was a young kid, I wanted to be as high as I could be and, if this is what comes along with that, then you've got to embrace it and enjoy it,'' she said. ''It could all be gone tomorrow so I guess while it's there, enjoy it and make the most of where I'm at.''
Stosur faces American wildcard entry Lauren Davis on Tuesday in the first round.
The last Australian to win the women's singles title in Melbourne was Chris O'Neil in 1978.
The gap has been even longer for the Australian men, with Mark Edmondson the most recent to hold the trophy aloft, in 1976. Hewitt lost the 2005 final to Russia's Marat Safin.
Hewitt won the traditional warm-up tournament at Kooyong this week, and says his preparation for the open is as good as it could have been - though meeting Nalbandian in the first round is a tougher way to start than he would have liked. Hewitt beat Nalbandian in the 2002 Wimbledon final.
''It's obviously a tough draw,'' Hewitt said Sunday. ''Normally you don't mind easing into the tournament a little bit. But we're both going to have to be up for the match straight away. If you're not, you're going to be out in the first round. There's plenty to play for.''
Hewitt, 29, conceded that 2001 and 2002 - a period during which he won the U.S. Open and Wimbledon titles, led Australia to the Davis Cup final and achieved the No. 1 world ranking - may have been the high water mark of his career.
These days, the Davis Cup competition comes ahead of Grand Slams on his priority list but Hewitt said there was no sense that this Australian Open would be his last.
''All I can do is go out there. When you're unseeded, it's always a little bit hard, with draws and whatever,'' he said. ''But I still feel like I can go out there and give most guys a pretty good run.''
