The Australian Open draw was partly done by Ana Ivanovic on the women’s draw and John McEnroe on the men’s draw.  The 3rd an 4th seed were picked out of a bowl by Mac, then every 4 seeds after.

Andy Murray had an unusual distinction.  Because he failed to defend his points at Doha, he fell 5 points behind del Potro to fall to 5th in the world and thus 5th seed.  By Monday, because del Potro failed to defend his points, Murray will be ranked back at 4.

The question was, which quarter would Murray end up in.  The answer?  Rafael Nadal.

Roger Federer and Nikolay Davydenko are in the same quarter as the top 2 seeds in that quarter.  Federer immediately plays the very steady Igor Andreev in his opening round, which is a tough starter.  Gulbis, Verdasco, and Hewitt are in this quarter too.  Gulbis plays Juan Monaco in a tough opener.

In the same half as Federer, Djokovic and Soderling are the top seeds in the other quarter.  Tsonga, Robredo, Haas, and Tipsarevic are in this quarter.  This quarter doesn’t seem too bad.

Nadal and Murray are in the same quarter.  Monfils, Stepanek, Ferrer, and Karlovic are in this quarter.  Karlovic and Stepanek meet each other in the first round.

Roddick and del Potro are in the same quarter and in Nadal’s half of the draw.  Roddick has a tough opener against Thiemo de Bakker of the Netherlands.  Gonzalez, Berdych, Querrey and Wawrinka are in this quarter.

Play begins Monday.