MELBOURNE, Australia(AP) Roger Federer's road to tying Pete Sampras' record 14 Grand Slam singles titles goes through Marat Safin and Novak Djokovic.
And that's before he even reaches the final.
If he makes it, top-ranked Rafael Nadal or fourth-ranked Andy Murray are likely to be waiting. The two were drawn together on the top half and are possible semifinal rivals.
Federer starts with Andreas Seppi in the first round, then could face former No. 1 Carlos Moya in the second and 2005 winner Safin in the third. Defending champion Djokovic could be his semifinal opponent.
No. 7 seed Andy Roddick might meet Djokovic in the quarterfinals.
The women's draw ensured there'd be no all-Williams final, with sisters Serena and Venus on course to meet in the semis.
Second-seeded Serena, the U.S. Open champion, has won the Australian title every other year since beating Venus in the 2003 final.
It'd be great to win it again. I'm not really superstitious,'' Serena Williams said this week.Obviously I would like to win in 2009. To be honest I really wanted to win in 2008 but it didn't quite work out.''
Sixth-seeded Venus, who won her fifth Wimbledon championship last year with a victory over Serena in the final, rounded out the year by winning the season-ending WTA Championship.
The Williams sisters loom as the top contenders with defending champion Maria Sharapova missing the tournament after months on the sidelines with an injured right shoulder.
Serena will open against Chinese wild card Yuan Meng and could face 2006 champion and former No. 1 Amelie Mauresmo in the fourth.
Venus Williams would have to get past Beijing Olympics singles gold medalist Elena Dementieva to reach the semifinals.
In the top half, fifth-seeded Ana Ivanovic, who lost the 2008 Australian final to Sharapova and then won the French Open, could face third-seeded Dinara Safina in the quarterfinals and fellow Serb and top-ranked Jelena Jankovic in the semis.
Safina and her older brother Safin combined to get Russia into the final of the Hopman Cup in Perth earlier this month.
Safin had an upset semifinal win over Federer before beating local favorite Lleyton Hewitt here in 2005, earning his first Australian crown after losing two finals at Melbourne Park.
Djokovic, a 21-year-old Serbian, beat Federer in the semifinals last year before winning his first major title with a victory over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France.
Tsonga had a stunning win over Nadal in the semis here last year and the pair could meet at the same stage again in two weeks - with Tsonga drawn into the same quarter as Murray.
Nadal beat Federer in the finals of the French Open and Wimbledon, then ended the Swiss star's record 237-week streak atop the rankings when he won the Olympic singles gold medal.
Nadal's first loss as No. 1 was to Murray in the U.S. Open semifinals. Murray lost to Federer in his first final of a major.
Murray has won the last three head-to-heads and is 5-2 career against Federer. He beat Federer and Nadal at an exhibition in Abu Dhabi to start the year and repeated the win over Federer in the semifinals at Doha, where the 21-year-old Scottish player defended his title.
Nadal faces Christophe Rochus in the first round and a possible fourth-round encounter with either two-time Grand Slam winner Hewitt or 2007 Australian runner-up Fernando Gonzalez, who meet in the most intriguing of the first-round matches.
He could play sixth-seeded Gilles Simon of France in the quarterfinals. Murray has Spanish Davis Cup champion Fernando Verdasco, No. 9 James Blake and Tsonga in his quarter of the draw.
Blake said despite Murray's recent form, it would be hard to predict Federer or Nadal not winning another title.
The pick that a lot of people would come up with is Andy Murray. He's beaten Federer the last three times. He just won in Doha ... a young guy that keeps improving,'' Blake said at the draw.But I'm never going to pick against Roger or Rafa. Those are the guys who have the best chances.
``Novak, it'll be interesting to see how he does coming back to defend a Grand Slam.''