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Novak seeks 10th title after Aussie ban in 2022
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Alcaraz out with injury
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'Bad boy' Kyrgios on home turf
With last year's top player, Carlos Alcaraz, unable to take part in the first Grand Slam of 2023 because of injury, even more attention will be heaped on Novak Djokovic.
The 35-year-old Serb, who opens his campaign with a match against Spain's Roberto Carballés Baena, will be hoping to scoop a 10th title Down Under.
After being banned from entering Australia this time last year, Djokovic will be keen to hit the ground running in Melbourne where he has won his last 21 matches.
Rafa Nadal is the official defending champion, although many believe that it is Djokovic who is chasing a fourth straight win in this event.
Due to his refusal to satisfy Covid regulations laid down by the governments of Australia and United States, he was also forced to miss the Slam in New York.
Aussie rules have since changed, allowing him to compete next week, and having won nine of his last 15 Slams it's no surprise that he's considered the tournament favourite.
Nadal, the winner of two Slams during 2022, has failed to win a single Tour event since last June, although the 36-year-old from Mallorca has been written off before, only to succeed at Grand Slam level again - and on more than one occasion.
Latest betting for the Australian Open men's singles
Two other contenders in the year's opening Slam are Casper Ruud and Daniil Medvedev.
Norway's Ruud lost four big finals in 2022, but ended the year No 3 in the world. He suffered Slam defeats in Paris and New York, while also finishing runner-up at the ATP Tour World Finals in Turin and Masters Series' event in Miami.
He's won nine Tour events over the past three years, although eight of these were on clay.
Medvedev, runner-up at the past two Australian Opens, was banned from playing at Wimbledon last summer because of his Russian nationality.
The 26-year-old did beat Novak Djokovic in the US Open final of 2021 and has reached the semi-final stage in five of his last seven hard court Slams.
Just a few days ago at the Adelaide International, Medvedev and Djokovic faced each other in the Last Four when the Serbian came out on top and went on to win the tournament.
Medvedev is in the same half of the draw as Nadal, so there could be a repeat of last year's final at the quarter-final stage.
Latest betting for the women's singles at Melbourne Park
A seemingly rejuvenated Nick Kyrgios may fancy his chances on home soil.
Although ending 2022 outside the world's top 20, the 27-year-old from Canberra appears to be more mature than he was just a few years ago.
He lost the Wimbledon final in July, before holding aloft the trophy at the ATP Tour event in Washington DC a few weeks' later.
This was his first ATP title since winning the same hard court event three years earlier.
In early September he followed up his run at Wimbledon, by reaching the quarter-finals in New York where he beat Medvedev in Round Four.
However, he remains a difficult player to assess and usually plays in far fewer tournaments than the majority of his contemporaries.
In Thursday's draw, Kyrgios was placed in the bottom half alongside his Wimbledon conqueror Djokovic, and they could meet in the Last Eight.
Click here to view 10 years of men's singles form at Australian Open (2013-22)