Sky Sports' man Down Under praises Brisbane and looks at a wide-open women's draw.
If I was surprised to see Andy Murray opting to kick-off his campaign at the Brisbane International, I'll now be amazed if he doesn't make it his regular season-starting event.
Rather than joining Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal in the ATP Doha or making a third successive appearance at the Hopman Cup, the world number four chose to warm-up for the Australian Open down the road at Brisbane.
Well, I say down the road, there's just over 1,000 miles between Brisbane and Melbourne, but the Scot was able to experience humid conditions similar to those he will have to endure at Melbourne Park, rather than the often mild evenings of Doha.
What he and all others to visit to the Queensland Tennis Centre also benefited from was a perfectly executed 250 tour event in a fantastic city.
Free transport, heaps of helpful volunteers, fantastic hospitality, a stadium worthy of hosting a Masters event, the list could easily go on.
Just 12 months on from the floods, which caused billions of dollars of damage to Australia's third biggest city, Queensland Tennis put on a show only second to Murray's tennis.
Well, that's forgetting the two creaky performances he delivered before romping to the title with eventual ease, losing just 13 games from the quarters onwards.
Primed
With the aches and pains from his first two matches cleared out, Murray is primed for another assault at his first Grand Slam title.
But while there's little more left for Murray than an exhibition match with David Nalbandian, there's still plenty to come from the WTA before attention turns to Melbourne Park.
Nine of the top 10 women in the world headed to the Sydney International, with more than just playing time and Tour points at stake.
Petra Kvitova, who headed for the Australian string last year as a world number 34, now has the chance to claim the world number one spot from Caroline Wozniacki, who slumped out on Tuesday.
Wimbledon champion Kvitova enjoyed a meteoric rise in 2011 and now heads to the Australian Open as the
5/2 favourite with Sky Bet.
However, I'm yet to be convinced that she's ready to win a Slam on hard court, although nothing is impossible on a tour where favourites so frequently fall.
Maria Sharapova, Serena Williams and Kim Clijsters all had to pull out of the Brisbane International at various stages due to injury, while Sam Stosur slumped out at early rounds in Brisbane and Sydney.
The US Open champion was supposed to be representing a real chance for Australia to have a first women's winner since 1978, but home turf hardly seems to bring the best out of the world number six.
Stosur has never been past the fourth round at Melbourne Park and is alone in offering any realistic hope to the home fans.
Bernard Tomic is rightly considered one of the rising stars in the game but was put in his place by Murray at the semis in Brisbane.
He's now on another decent run in Kooyong after knocking out Tomas Berdych in three sets, although the world number seven's typical aggressive game was blunted as much by the windy conditions as the 19-year-old's defence.
The teenager still has plenty of work to do physically, both in terms of strength and speed, to be able to cause the big four anything more than brief problems.
Back on the women's side, 15-year-old Ashleigh Barty is provoking hopes as she looks to make the step up to the full tour after winning the junior Wimbledon title last year.
So it's looking like these boisterous home crowds will have to be patient with their hopes, just like we' Brits should still be with Murray.
Crown retention
Anyway, it seems a waste me getting a close-up look at the tours without using it for a bit of tipping insight, so I'll also be offering up my best bets throughout my time out here.
Initial impressions are that Clijsters, despite her minor hip problem, looks in great form to retain her Australian Open crown.
The 28-year-old has the most complete game on tour for me, while possessing the mental edge over most of the WTA's finest given her experience - being one of only three active players to have triumphed at Melbourne Park.
Of the other two, well I'm not convinced Serena, has got enough playing time under her belt after suffering an ankle injury in the second round in Brisbane, while Sharapova tends to only show us glimpses of the talent which promised so much during her teens.
World number one Wozniacki is still a bit too restrained in big matches and I've got doubts over whether Kvitova currently possesses the defensive game or speed to win a Slam on hard court.
Kaia Kanepi saw her price Aus Open price cut dramatically from 100/1 to
14/1 following her Brisbane triumph, showing just how wide open the women's draw is.
Anyway, looking forward to seeing Juan Martin del Potro, who many are expecting big things from in 2012, as he takes on former Melbourne Park finalist Marcos Baghdatis on Wednesday.
Anyway, I'll be in touch with what is going on down here, while I'm also hoping to get some more time with Murray during his media day on Saturday. We've got something good in the pipeline but no revealing until it's confirmed - no room for chicken counting in this game!
