The 2018 Australian Open is not the ultimate tennis reunion it could have been.
Long-absent luminaries Serena Williams, Andy Murray, Victoria Azarenka and Kei Nishikori remain absent, and Murray will be out for at least several months more after hip surgery.
Other stars may join the list before getting the chance to play their opening-round matches in Melbourne, or perhaps even after they start their opening-round matches in Melbourne, and discover their bodies are not truly ready for the grind.
Even one of the key ceremonial figures is expected to skip the tennis festivities: Margaret Court, long retired but still in the headlines, says she will go crab fishing instead this year as the debate continues about whether the Australian Open’s third biggest show court should continue to bear her name.