The Gardeners' World Blog

It's that time of year again when Britain wonders if it can produce a male Grand Slam champion for the first time in 73 years.

The Australian Open starts in the early hours of Monday morning and Andy Murray is favourite to win according to many bookiesafter a fantastic finish to the end of last season and claiming the first ATP title of the year in Doha.

In doing so he beat former World number one and three-time Australian Open Champion, Roger Federer, for the fourth time in their last five matches. Perhaps crucially, Murray`s last defeat to Roger came in his first Grand Slam Final - the US Open 6-2, 7-5, 6-2.

Murray is in great form - as he was at this stage last year - but it is hoped he learned a lot from last year's surprise first round defeat to Tsonga, who then made it all the way to the final. He should be prepared for an "in form" outsider this year, but I am confident he should do better than his performance in 2007 too - an epic, marathon defeat in the fourth round to Rafael Nadal.