Bernard Tomic will look to overcome a back problem to lead the local charge at Australian Open qualifying, which will be held off-shore for the first time.
Tomic is part of an 11-strong Australian men’s contingent who will contest qualifying in Doha, while nine Australian women will fly to Dubai for their January 10-13 tournament.
Qualifying is being held outside Australia as part of the major’s COVID-19 conditions.
Now ranked world No.226 after a career high of 17 back in 2016, Tomic has been battling a back injury.
It forced him out of the final of the UTR Pro Tennis Series tournament in Brisbane 10 days ago while he was warming up, while he only played nine ATP tour matches in 2020.
But the 28-year-old is hopeful of securing one of 16 qualifying spots in the main draws for the rescheduled Open, which will be held from February 8-21.
Players will need to win sudden-death three matches, with the 16 qualifiers plus a further six alternates travelling to Australia where they will have to undertake 14 days of mandatory quarantine with other main draw players.
A Wimbledon quarter-finalist, Tomic bombed in the first round of qualifying this year and the final round in 2018.
Among the other Australians in action are West Australian veteran Matt Ebden, Victorian Andrew Harris and Queenslanders Jason Kubler and Akira Santillan.
The women’s field includes Kimberly Birrell (Qld) and Ellen Perez (NSW).
Tennis Australia’s director of performance Wally Masur said players needed to quickly adapt to the unprecedented process.
“It’s certainly a unique situation, having to travel overseas to compete,” Masur said.
“It’s been an unusual year for all players, and the best results will come to players who can quickly adapt, and translate all of their hard work from pre-season and training into competitive match play.”