Serena Williams has re-entered the tennis anti-doping testing pool but the 23-times Grand Slam champion denied on Tuesday that the move had anything to do with her making a return to the sport she dominated for nearly two decades.
Djokovic still undecided on next year's French Open after semi-final exit.
Most importantly, and most prominently, is the name of Serena's three-year-old daughter Olympia.
Djokovic left little doubt that he would also be there trying to win major number 23.
'Serena must be prepared to live with it and say goodbye even in the face of defeat'
This year's Australian Open will be allowed to admit up to 30,000 fans a day, around 50% of usual capacity, amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Eight-time Wimbledon champion Roger Federer, who turns 40 this year, takes on Frenchman Adrian Mannarino in round one.
Serena Williams has not won a set in any of the four Grand Slam finals she has reached since returning from maternity leave in September 2017.
Serena confirmed her entry to the tournament she won for a seventh time on her last appearance in 2017.
Players competed at empty stadiums at Melbourne Park through the five-day lockdown but reduced capacity crowds of 7,477 have been permitted in each of Thursday's two sessions and the same number for the singles finals sessions on Saturday and Sunday.
Romania's Italian Open winner Simona Halep, Spain's Garbine Muguruza and US Open semi-final foe Victoria Azarenka of Belarus present a major challenge for Serena Williams at the upcoming French Open.
John McEnroe mocked Margaret Court as the 'crazy aunt' of tennis. She has attracted heavy criticism for voicing her religious-based opposition to same-sex marriage.
Serena Williams aims to defend her Australian Open title next year, the American saying the rapid return to action would only give her around three months to prepare after giving birth to her first child.
Simona Halep has been in red-hot form and the absence of top-ranked Australian Ash Barty, who won her maiden Grand Slam in Paris last year, and US Open champion Naomi Osaka, will boost her chances further.
Serena Williams returned to the top of the WTA world rankings on Monday and immediately shared the news with her unborn baby.
The players have been allowed out to practise for five hours a day during their quarantine but Djokovic said he had headed to a local park on his first morning in Australia without restrictions.
A look at the top women's contenders at the 2020 French Open.
US Open: Serena ready for Svitolina challenge
Serena Williams has given birth to a baby girl, the first child for the former world number one tennis player, her coach Patrick Mouratoglou said on Twitter on Friday.
Serena Williams has never been one to approach the net until it is time to exchange post-match pleasantries with an opponent but on Thursday she broke from tradition and it paid off with a trip to the U.S. Open final.
Serena Williams reluctantly pulled out of this year's Australian Open on Friday, the American saying that while she was close to regaining full fitness after giving birth to her first child in September, she was not fully ready to defend her title.
Serena, a six-times champion in New York who is seeded 17th, will start her campaign against Polish world number 60 Magda Linette and could face Venus in the third round before a possible fourth-round showdown with Romanian top seed Halep.
Separated in age by 25 years, their careers overlapped only briefly and Martina Navratilova, who herself won 18 Grand Slam singles crowns, never faced Serena Williams on a singles court.
Serena Williams is chasing Australian Margaret Court's record 24 Grand Slam singles titles
Serena was drawn on Friday to play doubles in a potentially decisive fifth rubber in this week's Fed Cup first round tie against the Netherlands in what will be her first competitive match in over a year. The doubles rubber, which is scheduled for Sunday on an indoor hard court in Asheville, North Carolina, will be played even if one side clinches the best-of-five match series through the opening four singles matches.
The Romanian broke Williams's serve in the first game but that was the only one she managed for the rest of the opening set as the American bulldozed her way through the set in 20 minutes, serving it out with an ace.
'I've played injured most of the year -- whether it was my elbow, my knee, or in the finals moments after a certain match in Flushing, my heart' 'I'm a fierce competitor and I want to compete as well as I can, for as long as I can'
amiliar names, however, are tipped to take off with the winners' trophies. The following is a list of talking points at the Australian Open:
Images from Day 1 at the Australian Open.
Serena Williams said it was a 'great feeling' to surpass Steffi Graf as the most prolific grand slam champion of the open era at the Australian Open on Saturday and was not prepared to put a number on the haul of titles she might end up with.
World number one Serena Williams survived a mid-match meltdown to beat Czech Lucie Safarova 6-3, 6-7(2), 6-2 to win the French Open on Saturday, her 20th Grand Slam singles trophy.
Serena Williams retained her US Open crown by holding off a battling Victoria Azarenka of Belarus 7-5, 6-7(6), 6-1 in a windblown final at the Arthur Ashe stadium on Sunday.
Serena Williams' behaviour in Saturday's US Open final divided the tennis world after she called the chair umpire a "liar" and a "thief" and said he treated her differently than male players during her loss to Naomi Osaka.
Images from Day 8 of the Australian Open in Melbourne on Monday.
Images from Day 1 of the Australian Open in Melbourne on Monday.
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