The goosebumps rise on the back of the neck as you walk through the gates into Melbourne Park. It’s two hours until the gates open, yet families have already started lining up to enter the precinct, both young and old with faces sporting ear-to-ear smiles. The anticipation is absolutely palpable as the second Monday of the year has finally arrived.

The first matches of the day are a buffet of quality tennis with Swiss eighth seed Stanislas Wawrinka taking on Kazakh Andrey Golubev, German ninth seed Angelique Kerber taking on Aussie home hero Jarmilla Gajdosova, and American veteran and crowd favorite Venus Williams taking on Russian 22nd seed Ekaterina Makarova. The only certain thing for these players today is that they’ll be facing extremely oppressive conditions with the temperature tipped to be well above 90 today and about 104 throughout the rest of the week.

The Australian Open has built itself on a festival-like atmosphere. Although it occurs at less than convenient times for people in the opposite hemisphere, it is one of the players’ and the fans’ favorite majors. It’s not hard to see why with an incredible show court atmosphere and an abundance of water fountains and grassy knolls in the shade. The ability to get within one or two yards of a superstar has often set the Australian Open apart from the rest of the majors. And the relaxed but excitable atmosphere has also played a part in creating an incredible tournament.

A lot of talk prior to the tournament commencing has centered on the pace of the courts. While many players have expressed their frustration at tournament organizers for that reason, their love for Melbourne and the Australian Open is clearly unscathed with them all excited at the prospect of playing in front of their fans in such a vibrant, culturally diverse city.

So, with the final turnstile locked in place and the final piece of tape peeled off the entrance to the recently refurbished Margaret Court Arena, everything is in place for the gates to open at Melbourne Park. After a long off-season, the players are rested, well prepared and ready to go, and the fans are more than thrilled to have the tennis back. The first major of the year is ready to get underway. And we couldn’t be more excited.