Australian Open 2013: The heat is on

Last year I had the opportunity to attend my first Grand Slam tournament in Melbourne. Everything was great except the crazy weather. Although I only spent one day at the Australian Open due to a packed schedule but I thought I had enough of the heatwave. I only managed to sit through a game where Stanislas Wawrinka was playing and that was it.

While I look to bet on march madness online, the same month Rafael Nadal is scheduled to be back on court in Indian Wells, I'll still be following up closely with the AO tournament despite the absence of Nadal. I believe the competition is going to be very tight this year (isn't that happen every year?).

Here are some training pictures from Melbourne before the tournament kicks off next week.

Ana Ivanovic (she looks too skinny these days)

Novak Djokovic

Andy Murray

Victoria Azarenka

Lleyton Hewitt

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga

Serena Williams

Roger Federer

(Images via Sina Sports)

Tennis is the no. 1 sport in Australia

After 17 years, tennis is now back as Australia's favourite sport.

According to the latest '07/08 edition of the Sweeney Sports Report, 57% of Australians in the major capital cities are interested in tennis, followed by swimming (55%) and cricket (53%).

Sweeney general manager Todd Deacon said tennis has become more popular despite the lack of any Australians in the top 10 largely due to savvy marketing by local administrators and because spectators often followed the fortunes of a favourite player regardless of nationality.

"They attract the world's top players to the lead-up events to the Australian Open; the likes of the Sydney International and the Kooyong Classic; and people want to see them," he said.

Deacon said tennis was also popular with women; 60 percent were interested in the sport compared to 40 percent for cricket.

(Image by GREG WOOD/AFP/Getty Images)