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When the Australian Open begins on Monday, Covid permitting, a new chapter will be written in the annals of the country s major international sporting event.
As always there will be winners and losers, miraculous victories and hard-fought losses but, true to form, the Australian Open will also toss up inspirational unknowns and infuriating loudmouths who will capture the rapt attention of a fickle public for two weeks before being largely forgotten for the next 12 months.
Because, the Australian Open is about a lot more than serves, backhands and cross-court volleys. To the once-a-year tennis aficionados drawn to its celebrity glow like moths to a flame, it is about personalities and glamour, battlers and bullies, heroes and villains.