Roger Federer 

• Winning 1000 matches is no easy task as only two other men accomplished this feat in the Open Era.  Roger Federer added to his established reputation for consistency across many years and to his growing legacy of logevity by joining Ivan Lendl an Jimmy Connors.
• Roger also has an outside shot at overtaking Ivan Lendl for the #2 slot in all time tournament titles won in the Open Era.
• Roger lost 2 sets in Brisbane and won 8.  He took out two of the top under 25 players on tour to claim his first title of 2015.
• Federer’s position as the #2 ranked player in the world is unlikely to change until after the grass court season unless of course he rises to #1.

David Ferrer 

• Tennis’ 30 and over crowd continues to dominate this era of slower courts and spin friendly strings.
• David Ferrer ha a few bumps in the road during 2014, but his 2015 campaign opens with a title.
• It is understandable that Ferrer would sit this week out in order to be rested for Melbourne.

Stanislas Wawrinka

• Stan has already defended one title from 2014.  That has to bode well for his Australian Open title defense.
• Wawrinka’s form in London and the Davis Cup final was high.  Combining his strong finish to 2014 with his title in India makes me think he’s likely to be a big factor in 2015.

Final Analysis

The days of players entering the Australian Open playing rusty tennis and hoping to find form by the second week of the slam are long gone.  I don’t think tune-ups are as important for the Australian Open as they once might have been.  None of these draws offered a murderer’s row of opponents.  Still, three guys enter the Australian Open having raised a trophy and not lost a match in 2015.  Confidence is a commodity everyone wants to keep on tour.  Federer, Ferrer, and Wawrinka each have cause to enter Melbourne with a little more self-belief than they had on January 1st.