Rafael Nadal, Jelena Jankovic Top Seeds at Aussie Open, Preview Of Draw

It's official. To no surprise, Rafael Nadal and Jelena Jankovic were named top seeds for the coming Australian Open.

I really hope Jankovic lives up to the World No. 1 ranking this year and make it more constantly to Grand Slam finals, hopefully winning one. Starting at the Aussie Open wouldn't hurt, either.

As for Rafa, he's never been past the semis in Melbourne so far. Last year when he reached the last four for the first time, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga thrashed him soundly to deny him a spot in the final.

You could argue that it's the hardcourt factor, and admittedly, he is suffering from a knee problem, but you can never write Rafa out. I mean, who would have thought dear Rafa could take the Wimbledon title, given that he's a clay court specialist?

As for the others, Federer's always a threat, and Nole Djokovic is defending champ, but the bookie's hot favourite is none other than Andy Murray, so it'll be really interesting to see if Murray can handle that kind of pressure against the likes of the top three men in the world.

Tsonga's fifth seed, and Roddick's (Andy, no losing early this year!) down there in 7th, and while they are capable of major upsets, but I won't place any money on that. All eyes on Murray, that means.

On the ladies side, the defending champ is not playing. Maria Sharapova has withdrawn because of injury. I'm no fan of Sharapova by any means, but I do think it's quite unfortunate that she had to miss most of the second half of last year because of her shoulder problem.

The women's side could do with a little more competition; they're boring as hell nowadays. The Williams sisters will always be real contenders, and then you've got Ana Ivanovic, last year's finalist and 2008 French Open champion.

Hopefully they won't let us down and start playing rubbish tennis and get blown off the courts earlier than they should.

Here are the top ten seeds for men's and women's:

1. Rafael Nadal
2. Roger Federer
3. Novak Djokovic
4. Andy Murray
5. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
6. Giles Simon
7. Andy Roddick
8. Juan Martin Del Potro
9. James Blake
10. David Nalbandian

1. Jelena Jankovic
2. Serena Williams
3. Dinara Safina
4. Elena Dementieva
5. Ana Ivanovic
6. Venus Williams
7. Vera Zvonareva
8. Svetlana Kuznetsova
9. Agnieszka Radwanska
10. Nadia Petrova

Meanwhile, because I care, Caroline Wozniacki's in 11th, and Daniela Hantuchova's seeded 19th.

Finally, the draw is out, and can be seen here in full.

It seems Nadal's got the relatively easier draw (save for one Andy Murray lurking in the next quarter), with Gonzalez, Blake, Tsonga, Monfils, Youzhny, Hewitt, Ancic, and Haas all on his side as well.

The pick of the first round would have to be Gonzalez against local boy Hewitt, that'll be really interesting to watch. Now wait till you see the other half of the draw.

Federer's got Djokovic, Roddick (nooooo. not here.), Robredo, Nalbandian, Baghdatis, Del Potro, Lopez, Ferrer, Wawrinka, Berdych and, get this, a possible third round clash with Marat "Great-when-I'm-good, horrid-when-I'm-bad" Safin.

For the ladies, Jelena's got a good draw, I think. Safina and Ana are both there too, but both Williams sisters are on the other side, and the only few real people she'll need to worry a little about are Zvonareva and Petrova.

Wozniacki and Hantuchova are here too. That would make this side the pretty side, I would suppose.

Over on other end, yikes, the two Williams sisters on either side of the same half. The other bigger names to look out for aren't pushovers either.

Radwanska, Mauresmo, Kuznetsova, Schnyder, Dementieva, and even though had a dreadful last year, Nicole Vaidisova are all in the mix as well. Well well well.

Dare I make a prediction? I usually don't like to, because I'm always wrong, but here goes anyway, I'll pick the finalists. I know it's asking a lot for both Nadal and Federer to not make it through to the final on either side, but I'm going for a Murray-Djokovic final.

On the ladies' end, it would be a shame to see Jankovic or Ivanovic have to be eliminated, and much as I want Jankovic to get a first Slam, my heart says Ivanovic for the top half. And one of the Williams sisters for the bottom.

Okay, fingers crossed. See you down under.