AUSTRALIAN OPEN
Venue: Melbourne Park Date: 19 January-1 February
Coverage: BBC Red Button, Radio 5 Live sports extra, BBC Sport website (Red Button coverage streamed on website throughout fortnight)

Williams did not say who she expected the 'special letter' to be from

"Maybe I'll get the special 10 plus bonus mail. I'm sure that people with 10-plus Grand Slams get special letters. I'll be part of a really elite club."
Serena Williams expects some post and, maybe, a little badge if she adds two more Grand Slam wins to her tally.

"First of all I don't celebrate Christmas, and then I never have vacations."
Williams gives an insight into the glamorous life of a pro tennis player.

"It was really, really hot today. And, um, it was really hot today."
Williams' weather report.

"We couldn't survive outside in this temperature."
A beaten Elena Dementieva gives thanks for the Rod Laver Arena roof as temperatures soar past 40C in Melbourne.

"I'm not drinking any alcohol. The most you will see me drinking is some pure water. Maximum I can drink is maybe glass of wine. I don't drink any alcohol."
Unlike brother Marat who celebrated his Aussie Open win with some chilled vodka, Dinara Safina is not a fan of the demon drink.

"It's great that I can follow in his footsteps. He was my idol - he still is my idol - and the fact that I'm doing as well as him is amazing."
Safina gets misty-eyed at the thought of Marat's 2005 victory.

"We'll probably never quite know who was the greatest of all?time in tennis, and I think that's quite intriguing as well. Of course, if somebody goes off and wins 35 Grand Slams then you made your point. I could maybe become the greatest of the Open era, but never of all?time. I'm very well aware of that."
Roger Federer, chasing a record-equalling 14th Grand Slam, puts his achievements into context.

"You need bad linespeople. They got to help you out."
Federer on his newfound success with HawkEye.

"If I lose a set or two sets against Berdych, everybody is like 'Oh, my God, he's not the same anymore'. And then you beat Del Potro and everything is back to normal."
Federer on the fickle nature of the media.

"Overall, it was an OK match. He just beat me. It's plain and simple."
Not for the first time, Andy Roddick has to explain a defeat by Federer.

"The thing about Roger is you can know where to go, and you can still come out on the bad end of it sometimes. A lot of people, you know exactly what to do and the majority of the time you execute it, you're going to come out on the good end it of."
It doesn't get any easier for Roddick, who has lost 16 times to the world number two.

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