Absentees increase Henman's chances

Lleyton Hewitt enters his home Grand Slam here on Monday as No 1 seed after one of the swiftest recoveries from chicken-pox in medical history, but the rest of the Australian Open field – both men's and women's – has been ravaged by illness and injury.

Casualties in the men's competition include the world No 5, Spain's Juan Carlos Ferrero, who withdrew with a knee injury. Doubts surround the fitness of France's Nicolas Escude, who pulled out of this week's Sydney International with a groin strain, and of Roger Federer of Switzerland, labouring with a thigh strain that flared up at the Hopman Cup.

The women, meanwhile, lost their top seed after a persistent knee injury forced Lindsay Davenport to bow out of the first Grand Slam of the season. The No 1 slot was taken over by her fellow American, Jennifer Capriati, but the latter will be defending her title hindered by a nagging hip problem.

Also under a cloud are France's Amelie Mauresmo, suffering from a sore neck, and Kim Clijsters, Belgium's French Open finalist, who has a nerve injury in her right arm. Martina Hingis, the No 3 seed, withdrew from yesterday's doubles final in Sydney after hurting her left thigh, while Serena Williams retired from her singles semi-final with a strapped right ankle.

With Hewitt an unknown quantity following his brief joust with chicken-pox, the mantle of favourite has descended on the perennially fit Andre Agassi, who is hoping to lift the men's trophy for the third year in a row. The 31-year-old Las Vegan has acquired a wedding ring and a son in recent months, but his appetite for an eighth Grand Slam title is undiminished.

Agassi is in the talent-heavy top half of the draw, together with Hewitt, Pete Sampras, the Russian Marat Safin and the 13th-seeded young American, Andy Roddick. He and Sampras, still struggling to regain form, could meet in the quarter-finals, while Hewitt will have to beat one of the two American veterans to reach the final.

The bottom half of the draw is wide open, which could prove promising for Britain's top duo, Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski. Henman, seeded No 6, is on form and upbeat after overcoming Australia's Mark Philippoussis to win last week's Adelaide Open on Rebound Ace, the same surface as at Melbourne Park. The two Britons will meet in the third round if Rusedski – the favourite in today's Heineken Open final in Auckland against France's Jerome Golmard – manages to defeat Philippoussis, a fellow big server. The Australian, who has recently returned to the circuit after long-term injury problems, will be one of the tournament's dark horses.

Henman has never progressed beyond the fourth round of the Australian Open – or, for that matter, of any Grand Slam bar Wimbledon. If he succeeds in burying that precedent, he could play Brazil's Gustavo Kuerten in the quarter-finals. Kuerten, however, notwithstanding his No 2 seeding, has never made it past the second round in Melbourne.

After winning in Adelaide, Henman said he had been working on controlling his serve in hot weather. "I have been serving much more consistently," he said. "But there are plenty of good players ready to cause an upset. I will feel full of confidence, but what does that guarantee me? Now we wipe the slate clean and start again in Melbourne."

Hewitt may yet defy the doom-mongers, but he must be bitterly disappointed at the timing of his illness. After a phenomenal 2001 in which he won the US Open and then the Masters Cup, finishing the year as the youngest end-of-season No 1, his sights were set on becoming the first Australian to be crowned champion on home soil since Mark Edmondson in 1976.

It was at Melbourne Park last year that Capriati wrote the fairy-tale conclusion to her story of teenage prodigy gone off the rails, beating Hingis to win her first Grand Slam title. She went on to triumph at the French Open, but looks less invincible at present, having lost her only warm-up match in Sydney.

Hingis finds herself in the unenviable position of having to defeat both Serena and Venus Williams to reach her sixth consecutive Australian Open final. While she has a good record in Melbourne, she has not won a major tournament for three years and, at the grand age of 21, has already been written off by some pundits.

Serena appears to have over-indulged during the festive season, but Venus, the No 2 seed, is the singles favourite. She has an easy passage to the semi-finals, with Monica Seles her only challenging opponent, and her chances are enhanced by Davenport's withdrawal.

More importantly, Venus – the Wimbledon and US Open champion – seems to want to prove a point after her previous lacklustre performances in Melbourne. This year, for the first time, she is properly prepared. She arrived early and promptly won the Australian Women's Hardcourt Championship to maintain an unbeaten run stretching back to July.

Looking ahead to the Australian Open, she said: "I have had some disappointing and tough losses I've had to swallow and I'm tired of it. It would be nice, real nice to win that tournament." There is, however, no prospect of a repetition of the US Open final between her and Serena; the sisters are together in the bottom half of the draw.

One player conspicuous by her absence will be Jelena Dokic, the world No 8, apparently reluctant to subject herself to scrutiny in her former adopted homeland. But while Dokic – who now plays for Yugoslavia – is avoiding Melbourne, her father, Damir, will be omnipresent.

Damir, whose eccentric behaviour has made him the bane of tennis officials worldwide, is the star of an advertisement for the Open's new sponsors, Kia, the Korean car company. Having been expelled from three out of four Grand Slams and banned from the women's tour for six months, it seems that Damir is having the last laugh.