MIKE DICKSON ON A BIG YEAR FOR THE TOP 5
ROGER FEDERER
THIS is not only going to be a big year for Federer, it is conceivable that it could be his last. The decision to take off the latter half of 2016 proved to be a masterstroke. Now he has to go again after only a short break following an arduous season. Come August he will be 37 and, superhuman though he sometimes appears, that will catch up with him at some point. It is hard to see him hanging around too long once he starts to lose to players he used to conclusively beat. If he were to finish, October’s Swiss Indoors in his home town of Basle might be favourite.
ANDY MURRAY
THE 30-year-old Scot seems to have eschewed the option of surgery on his hip to try to rehab his way back into shape, eliminating the possible perils of having an operation to try to prolong his career. He will be hoping to bounce back in the way South African Kevin Anderson did in 2017, enjoying a strong season after worrying that his best years were behind him following major hip problems. Murray (right) may have to ease his punishing physical workload and that will not come naturally. He surely needs to be at full capacity to win another slam. This year will be about his fitness levels, and the decision to delay his departure to Australia does not augur well.
SERENA WILLIAMS
THE great American may have looked on at the WTA Tour while on sabbatical and not seen anything to prevent her winning several more majors. It is not like she has played a great deal in recent years anyway. Only she will know exactly how much having a child will have altered her outlook. Her surprise Christmas Eve entry into Saturday’s exhibition in Abu Dhabi suggests she believes she can win the Australian Open, even though she has a tighter timeline than her predecessors who have returned from childbirth.
NOVAK DJOKOVIC
FOR Federer and Nadal in 2017, read Djokovic in 2018 — or so the Serb will be hoping. Everyone will want to see if it is not just his elbow that is fixed, but his mind as well. His coaching team of Andre Agassi and the freshly retired Radek Stepanek is a combination you feel could work a treat or swiftly implode. It was interesting to see Agassi travel to Monte Carlo to work with him this month, rather than Djokovic heading to Las Vegas.
MARIA SHARAPOVA
THE complete absence of humility in her comeback after a doping ban was irksome, but there can be little question that the Russian’s return pepped up the WTA Tour. The big question is whether her body can hold up — after winning the Tianjin Open in October she did not look fit the following week in Moscow. The grand slam format of a day off between matches suits her.