As one of the four grand slam championships it is restricted to the best players, based on a world ranking system and played in a knock-out format.

The top 20 ranked players do not play each other in the early rounds due to seeding.

The various competitions are for singles (men, women, and juniors), doubles (men, women, and mixed) although the focus of the press and rest of the world is clearly on the men's and women's singles only.

With Rafael Nadal out injured and Novak Djokovic exiting in the early rounds, the remaining world's best, Federer and Murray, are the favourites.

At the time of writing, had Australia's Nick Kygrios and Bernard Tomic not just been eliminated they would have been in the dozen or so of the young guns also considered a threat.

Kygrios, who for the first time was ranked in the top 20, was defeated by his friend Murray. Along with Tomic, they both had to fight hard to battle through the great depth of talent in the preliminary rounds.

The women's singles has veteran Serena Williams the undisputed favourite but after so many years at the top her form at times can be brittle and her risk of injury increases as each year goes by.

Not too far behind her are several who can, and have recently, caused upsets. Had she not been suspended for malburnium, use, Maria Sharapova would be in this group.

Through the depth of winter as we sit late at night in front of the TV Australians will again see the best tennis in the world.

For sure, there will be form upsets, delays for medical treatment, interruptions caused by the weather, disputed line calls and umpiring decisions, and occasionally bursts of emotion and temper tantrums.

In the end there will be the disappointment of defeat and the elation of lifting the huge winner's trophy. For those who love their tennis - this is as good as it gets.