Four-time Australian Open winner Roger Federer is the early fans' favourite for this year's tournament - the 100th Australian men's championship.
That's according to our poll on the australianopen.com web site which, as of Thursday, has Federer tipped by almost 50 per cent of readers to win this year's title.
The poll has Rafael Nadal as second favourite with 24% of the votes, while world No.1 and 2011 Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic is tipped by only 18% of voters to win the tournament.
The support for Federer comes after a strong finish to an otherwise ordinary 2011 by his standards. He won the year-ending ATP Tour Finals in London, however, managed only one Grand Slam tournament final at the French Open, where he was comfortably beaten by Rafael Nadal.
Four percent of voters believe Andy Murray can win this year's title, while the remaining three percent believe a player outside the top four will be victorious.
You can have your say on the poll by clicking here. Voting closes on Sunday.
This year marks the 100th Australian men's championship, and to commemorate the occasion a special limited edition collector coin was released at the Australian Open 2012 launch in October.
The Grand Slam of Asia-Pacific boasts an honour role the equal of any in world sport with past winners including great Australian names such as Roy Emerson, Rod Laver and John Newcombe, iconic tennis personalities Andre Agassi and Jim Courier, and current stars Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and most recently, Novak Djokovic.