HONG KONG, June 21: The Australian Open, Roland Garros, Wimbledon and the US Open. And this year, a fifth Grand Slam: the Beijing Olympics.

With the sport’s biggest names lining up for a shot at gold, the Olympic tennis tournament provides a welcome shake-up to the usual order of service.

“The Olympics comes around only once every four years, and the US Open is there every single year,” said Russian glamour queen Maria Sharapova.

“It has been a dream of mine ever since I was a little girl.”

The sense of excitement is refreshing from the highly paid, well-travelled tennis elite, some of whom will carry their nations’ flags at the glittering opening ceremony.

“An Olympic gold would be something very special,” admitted top-ranked Roger Federer, who has placed Beijing at the top of his list this year.

Lindsay Davenport, winner in 1996, said the Atlanta opening bash was a moment of “pure joy.” ”We were all crying when Muhammad Ali lit the torch,” she said.

But euphoria will soon give way to brutal competition at the Olympic Green Tennis Centre, with the mercury expected to top 30 deg C (85 deg F) in muggy and polluted air.

Federer will be favourite to claim arguably the season’s biggest prize after finishing fourth at Sydney 2000 and flopping out in round two in Athens.

But his worst season since 2004 is ill-timed for the Swiss, who has already been beaten eight times this year.

World number two Rafael Nadal underlined his dominance on clay at the French Open but is vulnerable on hard courts, winning just one title on the surface last year out of six in total.

Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic heads the list of challengers including Nikolay Davydenko, Andy Murray and emerging French stars Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Gael Monfils.

In the women’s draw, Serbian superstar Ana Ivanovic will be the centre of attention after claiming the number one spot and the French Open title in Paris.

But with defending champion Justine Henin’s shock retirement in May, and 18 different winners already this year, the event is unpredictable.

Ex-number one Sharapova won her third Grand Slam in Australia in January while Dinara Safina has come of age, rounding out a quintet of Russians in the top 10 including Svetlana Kuznetsova, Elena Dementieva and Anna Chakvetadze.

Serbia’s Jelena Jankovic holds the second ranking and Serena Williams, a three-time winner this year, will look to join a role of honour which includes her sister Venus by claiming the only major title to elude her.

—AFP