The ATP Tour hits India for the Aircel Chennai Open which gets underway on January 2nd with world number nine Janko Tipsarevic heading the field.
Held since 1996, the Chennai Open has built a reputation as a 'Springboard of Champions' with Grand Slam winners Pat Rafter and Carlos Moya enjoying much success at the event.
Tipsarevic will be hoping success in Chennai can help spur him on to further glory after enjoying the best season of his career in 2011. The Serb has underachieved over the years but last year he finally achieved his dream and broke into the world's top ten, reaching the US Open quarter-finals in the process. However Tipsarevic has always played his best tennis as the underdog so it'll be interesting to see how he copes with being the favourite for the title this week.
Stanislas Wawrinka made a blistering start to 2011 in Chennai, winning the first hard-court title of the year. His season tailed off after that but he still managed to finish inside the top 20 and he'll be a strong contender again this week.
Marin Cilic returns to Chennai as a two-time former champion. Cilic lost in the first round last year but the big Croatian enjoyed a fruitful end to 2011 and will be keen to start afresh in 2012.
It'll be fascinating to see how Canada's Milos Raonic fares. Raonic burst onto the tour twelve months ago with his big hitting game and if he can stay injury free, he has the potential to go much further.
