ROGER'S LACK OF PREPARATION

The 2008 Australian Open marks the beginning of world No. 1 Roger Federer's quest for a fifth consecutive year of dominating men's tennis.

Unlike one of his predecessors, Pete Sampras, who won the first of his record 14 Grand Slam titles at 19, Federer was just a month shy of his 22nd birthday when broke through at Wimbledon in 2003.

He has subsequently made up for lost time, winning three out of four Grand Slams in 2004, 2006 and 2007, while having to settle for only two in 2005 - the year he was upset by Marat Safin in a titanic Australian Open semi-final, and then beaten by Rafael Nadal at the same stage of the French Open.

Since then, Federer has reached the final of every Grand Slam he has played, 10 in all, with the only blemishes coming the past two years at Roland Garros, where Nadal has proved to be a physical presence he can neither outmanoeuvre nor overpower.

That string of 10 Grand Slams without losing before the final is unprecedented in tennis history and works out to a 59-0 (Federer had one walkover) record over the first six rounds at the four majors on different surfaces against the best opposition professional tennis can provide.

(He is also on a streak of 14 Grand Slam semi-finals in a row, dating from a third-round loss to Gustavo Kuerten at the 2004 French Open.)

The severe stomach virus that has disrupted Federer's preparation for next week's Australian Open has created a tricky situation. While he did play Wimbledon (successfully) without a lead-in tournament or exhibition match last summer, that was only two weeks after he lost in the final at Roland Garros.

Currently, Federer has not played a public match of any kind since losing an exhibition to Sampras in Macau on Nov. 24.

That should be a serious obstacle in terms of getting reaccustomed to the competitive environment and the amped-up calibre of play that is automatically part of a head-to-head contest in front of a crowd.

But there is a chance that this far from an ideal situation could work to Federer's advantage because it presents a personal challenge. He strongly disapproves of the short period of time between the end of one ATP tour season and the beginning of the next year's first Grand Slam in Australia.

At Wimbledon last year, he insisted that, much more than adding a third week to the brief period between Roland Garros and Wimbledon, his main complaint with the current calendar is that the new season starts at fever-pitch level with a Grand Slam too soon.

Tom Tebbut