Australian Open 2017: Top 5 contenders for the title

3) Stan Wawrinka

Wawrinka has had a stuttering start to the year but experience will be on his side

Wawrinka did not have the best of starts to his 2017 season. Choosing to play at Brisbane instead of Chennai, which has been a happy hunting ground for many years now, did not turn out too well for the Swiss. He might have reached the semi-finals at Brisbane, but that includes a bye in the first round and two very tight wins over Viktor Troicki and Kyle Edmund, before bowing out in straight sets to Kei Nishikori.

But with past experience, it can be said that all of this will hardly matter once the Open starts, as Stan is known to rise up for occasion. If there ever was a "big-match player", it has to be him. The only challenge for "Stanimal", now, would be to see off the early few rounds safely. Because once he gets into the second week, he can be a completely different player.

To come to think of Wawrinka's achievements, he's closer to the Career Grand Slam than Murray, a player who seems to have been around at the top for so much longer than Wawrinka. While the Swiss just has Wimbledon left to win, Murray has both the Australian Open and French Open to conquer.

Riding behind the weight of his backhand, Wawrinka might just be able to do what his fellow 127 competitors will set out to do next Monday, but with so much more ease.