THE Brits are coming. That traditional refrain ahead of the Oscar season also applies to this year's Australian Open, after a storming start to the season for a number of British players down under. Andy Murray in the singles, and Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares in the doubles, may garner most of the headlines this fortnight but gone are the days when the British interest in the Australian Open was confined to the occupants of one extraordinary household in Dunblane. Here, the Sunday Herald provides the lowdown on the other Brits hoping to make their mark in Melbourne this month.
The men
Aljaz Bedene
The naturalised Slovenian who has lives in Welwyn Garden City has slipped out of the world's top 100 after a disappointing end to 2016 but could be on the up again after reaching the quarter-finals of Chennai. Not a huge hitter, or the tallest, but the world No 108 will fancy his chances against world No 103 Victor Estrella Burgos from the Dominican Republic.
Kyle Edmund
The 22-year-old Yorkshireman - who was born in Johannesburg - spent the winter attempting to keep up with Andy Murray in Miami, which should help him make a flying start to his 2017 campaign. Blessed with a huge forehand and a great attitude to the sport, Edmund overcame four top-20 players last season as he broke into the world's top 50 last. He enters at Melbourne ranked No 45, where he faces a winnable first round against 29-year-old Colombian Santiago Giraldo, ranked 90th in the world.
Dan Evans
The former Brummie bad boy of British tennis is finally adding the application to his undoubted talent. He lost out on his first tour-level title to Gilles Muller in straight sets in Sydney yesterday, having entered the tournament ranked No 67 and dispatched a top-10 player in the form of Dominic Thiem to get that far. Only 5ft 9in tall, but a classy player and a game scrapper who will take on Argentine world No 55 Facundo Bagnis first up.
The women
Naomi Broady
Willowy girl from Stockport - she stands 6ft 2in tall - with a big serve and forehand is another success story, even if she has worked outside the Lawn Tennis Association programme ever since she had her funding pulled for a teenage indiscretion. Ranked 95, she goes up against 22-year-old Australian Daria Gavrilova - ranked 25th in the world - first.
Johanna Konta
Evans wasn't the only Brit making waves in Sydney. Semi-finalist in Melbourne 12 months ago, Konta recorded her second WTA title only this week, beating world No 3 Agnieszka Radwanska 6-4, 6-2 in the process. A decent outside bet to upset the likes of Serena Williams and Angelique Kerber this fortnight, you would be hearing a lot more of this woman if it weren't for Andy Murray. Now the world No 9, she plays Belgium's Kirsten Flipkens first who who should be well known to Konta’s new Belgian coach Wim Fissette.
Heather Watson
Capable of matching anyone on her day - who could forget the way she extended Serena Williams at Wimbledon - Watson has had mixed fortunes recently. Won her third WTA Tour title in Monterrey last February but has struggled for consistency and has only been beyond the first round once on six previous visits to Melbourne, making the third round in 2013. Still only 24 and ranked No 75, she is playing aggressively under new coach John-Laffnie de Jager but faces home favourite Sam Stosur first up.
Wheelchair events
Gordon Reid
The 25-year-old from Helensburgh also deserves more than an honourable mention. The world No 1 in singles, Reid goes in as defending champion after winning his first Grand Slam singles title in Melbourne last year, where he also reached the final of the doubles. Has his work cut out to improve on a stellar 2016 but young enough to keep improving. So too is his English Rio 2016 doubles partner Alfie Hewett.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here