Australian Open 2016: Day 1 Schedule, Matchups Predictions for Melbourne Bracket

Tennis is never officially back until the Australian Open begins.

Therefore, tennis is back.

There's a lot of intrigue and curiosity heading into this year's Australian Open. The first day of the first major of the year begins on Monday, with the men's bracket beginning with top-seeded Novak Djokovic facing Korea's Hyeon Chung.

Here's the schedule and some predictions for the first day of the Australian Open.

Men's Bracket	Prediction		Women's Bracket	Prediction
Hyeon Chung vs. 1) Novak Djokovic	Djokovic		Luksika Kumkhum vs. 6) Petra Kvitova	Kvitova
Nikoloz Basilashvili vs. 3) Roger Federer	Federer		Camila Giorgi vs. 1) Serena Williams	Williams
Yuki Bhambri vs. 6) Tomas Berdych	Berdych		Kristyna Pliskova vs. 25) Samantha Stosur	Stosur
Marcos Baghdatis vs. 9) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga	Tsonga		Daria Gavrilova vs. Lucie Hradecka	Gavrilova
Philipp Kohlschreiber vs.7) Kei Nishikori	Nishikori		Christina McHale vs. 4) Agnieszka Radwanska	Radwanska
Nick Kyrgios vs. Pablo Carreno Busta	Kyrgios		Nao Hibino vs. 5) Maria Sharapova	Sharapova
Sergiy Stakhovsky vs. 15) David Goffin	Goffin		Qiang Wang vs. 24) Sloane Stephens	Stephens
Vasek Pospisil vs. 14) Gilles Simon	Simon		Yulia Putintseva vs. 16) Caroline Wozniacki	Wozniacki
Thiemo de Bakker vs. 12) Marin Cilic	Cilic		Ajla Tomljanovic vs. Kateryna Bondarenko	Bondarenko
Paolo Lorenzi vs. Grigor Dimitrov	Lorenzi		Viktorija Golubic vs. 10) Carla Suarez Navarro	Navarro
Ricardas Berankis vs. Margarita Gasparyan	Berankis		Daniela Hantuchova vs. 23) Svetlana Kuznetsova	Kuznetsova
Julien Benneteau vs. Nicolas Almagro	Almagro		Su-Wei Hsieh vs. Jelena Ostapenko	Ostapenko
Noah Rubin vs. 17) Benoit Paire	Paire		Margarita Gasparyan vs. 17) Sara Errani	Errani
Guillermo Garcia-Lopez vs. Paul-Henri Mathieu	Mathieu		Elizaveta Kulichkova vs. 22) Andrea Petkovic	Petkovic
Omar Jasika vs. Illya Marchenko	Jasika		Magdalena Rybarikova vs. Yanina Wickmayer	Wickmayer
Leonardo Mayer vs. 19) Dominic Thiem	Mayer		Alison Riske vs. 12) Belinda Bencic	Riske
Yoshihito Nishioka vs. Pablo Cuevas	Cuevas		Kurumi Nara vs. Oceane Dodin	Dodin
Kyle Edmund vs. Damir Dzumhur	Edmund		Heather Watson vs. Timea Babos	Watson
Jiri Vesely vs. Renzo Olivo	Olivo		Urszula Radwanska vs. Ana Konjuh	Konjuh
Albert Ramos-Vinolas vs.Borna Coric	Ramos-Vinolas		Maria Sakkari vs. Yafan Wang	Sakkari
Teymuraz Gabashvili vs. Andreas Seppi	Seppi		Tamira Paszek vs. 13) Roberta Vinci	Vinci
Ivo Karlovic vs. Federico Delbonis	Karlovic		Lauren Davis vs. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova	Pavlyuchenkova
Martin Klizan vs. 24) Roberto Bautista Agut	Agut		Anna Tatishvili vs. Irina Falconi	Falconi
Evgeny Donskoy vs. Inigo Cervantes	Cervantes		Nicole Gibbs vs.Klara Koukalova	Koukalova
Quentin Halys vs. Ivan Dodig	Dodig		Mariana Duque-Mariño vs. Xinyun Han	Han
Mirza Basic vs. Robin Haase	Haase		Kristina Mladenovic vs. Dominika Cibulkova	Cibulkova
Filip Krajinovic vs. Denis Kudla	Kudla		Aliaksandra Sasnovich vs. Evgeniya Rodina	Sasnovich
Victor Estrella Burgos vs. Daniel Brands	Brands		Daria Kasatkina vs. Anna Karolina Schmiedlova	Kasatkina
Dusan Lajovic vs. Sam Querrey	Querrey		Magda Linette vs. Monica Puig	Puig
Pablo Andujar vs. Pierre-Hugues Herbert	Andujar		Lourdes Domínguez Lino vs. Anna-Lena Friedsam	Lino
Jozef Kovalik vs. Marco Trungelliti	Kovalik		Monica Niculescu vs. Teliana Pereira	Pereira

Under-the-Radar Players

Nick Kyrgios (AUS)

Robert Prezioso/Getty Images

With maturity and professionalism, Nick Kyrgios can be a star.

He's only 20 years old. The upside is there, as is the potential to be great. The Australian native faces Pablo Carreno Busta in the first round, and a new year could mean new opportunities.

But the first thing Kyrgios has to do is be more professional. He and Stan Wawrinka got involved in a verbal confrontation that resulted in Kyrgios making a remark about fellow Aussie player Thanasi Kokkinakis and Wawrinka's girlfriend, Croatian tennis player Donna Vekic.

Wawrinka was disappointed in Kyrgios' remarks and didn't think a fellow tennis player would stoop that low, per ESPN.com:

"

So disappointing to see a fellow athlete and colleague be so disrespectful in a way I could never even imagine.

What was said I wouldn't say to my worst enemy. To stoop so low is not only unacceptable but also beyond belief.

There is no need for this kind of behaviour on or off the court and I hope the governing body of this sport does not stand for this and stands up for the integrity of this sport that we have worked so hard to build.

"

After the match, Kyrgios said it was in the "heat of the moment" and he "just said it."

A talent so young and so good should not be setting himself up to fail over a lack of professionalism, and Djokovic—the top-ranked player in the world—told Russell Jackson of the Guardian that he needs to work harder at achieving those traits:

"

Undoubtedly he has a great potential to be one of the world’s best tennis players, and I’m sure that he also has the intention and the ambition to achieve great heights in this sport.

He still needs that routine and needs a certain level of professionalism and I would say, a kind of a sacrifice, you know, for something that [he wants] to achieve. It’s all about give and take in life.

"

Kyrgios is in the second group of 32 in the first round, the bracket where Roger Federer resides. A couple of early wins could set up a match with the 12th-ranked Marin Cilic in the fourth round. A win could mean a shot at Federer in the quarterfinals.

He's shown a lot of promise. This is his chance to show he's ready to take the next step.

Maria Sharapova (RUS)

Mark Baker/Associated Press

When Maria Sharapova made it to the Australian Open final in 2015, it was all about momentum.

Her win at the Brisbane International set her up for a dominant run toward the final before losing to Serena Williams.

This year, it's not so set in stone with Sharapova. She had to withdraw from Brisbane due to a forearm injury. She's the No. 5 seed in the Australian Open, and she's in the same bracket as Serena.

The odds aren't in her favor, but Sharapova says she's going into the Australian Open feeling healthy and wants to turn her negative experience in Brisbane into a positive, per the Indian Express:

"

I feel really good. Got to Melbourne earlier than I wanted to. But it gave me a chance to practice here this week. Had great days on a lot of the courts. I’ve always been someone that’s been able to treat their practice as something meaningful, there’s something on the line, you’re not just going through the motions. That’s one of the reasons I believe in myself knowing, okay, I may not have played five matches in Brisbane, but if I commit myself, train well, get some practice sets in, I know with that mindset I’ll be able to (compete). Yes, I might be rusty, make a few more unforced errors than I would like, but I’m ready to go.

"

It's been eight years since Sharapova won the Australian Open, but she's come close multiple times with two finals appearances and a semifinals spot in the last four years. The only major she's had more success in is the French Open. She's capable of winning this tournament if she remains healthy.

If it's a battle of attrition by the quarterfinals, and if Williams isn't at 100 percent, Sharapova could pull off a monumental upset early.