Nowhere to hide with pitfalls in every round

MELBOURNE Park’s fault lines typically emerge early and yesterday’s draw provided yet another example of how not even the best-credentialled players are safe.

Heat, limited match play and the rub of the green are all factors. Only three weeks into the new season, the first grand slam of the year is here.

And the ramifications – rankings and otherwise – for Serena Williams, Angelique Kerber and Novak Djokovic are massive.

Kerber is living proof of how grand slam immortality can swing on as little – or as much – as a single point.

The German was down match point against Misaki Doi in the first round of last year’s Australian Open. By her own admission, she had one foot on the flight home.

The left-hander not only beat Doi but won the tournament, dethroning Williams to claim her first major. She met and survived the challenge and, by season’s end, had added the US Open and world No.1 ranking.

Before a ball has been served at the 2017 Open, destiny confronts Kerber, Williams and Djokovic.

If Williams wins a seventh Open title, it will be her 23rd major, within one of Margaret Court’s record at the top.

If Djokovic prevails, he will stand alone as the only man to have won seven times at Mel- bourne Park. Kerber will attempt to defend a major for the first time.

But those heady ambitions held no currency at the draw.

Williams landed in a nightmarish section – rising Swiss Belinda Bencic in the first round followed by French Open finalist Lucie Safarova or dangerous Belgian Yanina Wickmayer.

With only two matches under her belt since her US Open semi-final defeat, Williams is – notionally – more vul- nerable than ever. Even as a six-time champion. Ditto for defending men’s champion Djokovic, whose first-round foe is Fernando Verdasco.

Djokovic and Verdasco fought a brutal three-set stoush at the Qatar Open last week. Djokovic saved five match points, admitting he ought to have lost.

If the Serb advances, inform Grigor Dimitrov and Richard Gasquet await him.

And although Andy Murray has Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka to possibly contend with in the top half of his draw, Djokovic could run into another familiar adversary in the late rounds – Rafael Nadal.

Williams and Djokovic know better than most that to be the best they will have to beat the best. The same applies to Kerber, who starts against Lesia Tsurenko of the Ukraine.

All three, along with 253 rivals, will have to do precisely that from Monday because, as the draw demonstrated, there is nowhere to hide.