It's January and time for the Australian Open, the first of the four major international tennis tournaments of the year. This important tournament takes place in Melbourne. Last year half a million people paid to go and watch the game at Melbourne Park – one of the most modern stadiums in the world.

Until the 1980s the Australian Open was only interesting for Australians. Then, in 1987, the Swede, Stefan Edberg beat the Australian Pat Cash in an extraordinary match that the tennis world has never forgotten. Since then the Australian Open has become one of the top four tennis tournaments. It is popular with women tennis players because the prize money is the same for both men and women players – $450,000 for the winner of the singles game. At Wimbledon, for example, the men's singles prize last year was £477, 500, but the women's prize was £430,000.

Players say that the tournament is not easy. It is played in the heat of the Australian summer and the courts get very hot. They have a special surface called Rebound Ace that gets so hot you could probably cook on it!

Who are the big tennis names that people are talking about this year? Last year the American, Lindsay Davenport, won the women's singles. But the top world female tennis player – Martina Hingis – is looking good this year. She has already won the Australian Open three times – perhaps she'll do it again. And then there are the two American sisters, Venus and Serena Williams. Elder sister Venus won both Wimbledon and the US Open last year against Lindsay Davenport, while her sister Serena won the US Open in 1999. But Serena is already out of the tournament – she lost her game against Martina Hingis. The women’s singles is very exciting this year because the players are all so good.

In the men's singles, last year's Australian Open champion, André Agassi, is the player that people think will win. Aged 29, this exciting player has won six major tennis championships. When Agassi was younger, people were not sure that he would become a very important player. They could see he was an excellent player, but he seemed to think too much about his appearance. In those days, Agassi had long fair hair and wore unusual clothes. Then in 1992, Agassi won the British Wimbledon Tennis Championship, and people became really interested in him. Now, Agassi has cut his hair off and is no longer quite so beautiful. But he is still interesting to read about. For some years he was married to the film star Brooke Shields. Then they divorced and now the tennis player is seeing the world-famous tennis champion, Steffi Graf. But none of this stops Agassi playing wonderful tennis. The question is, can he win the Australian Open for a third time? He won last year, and also won in 1995. Many people would like him to win again.