Wearing a stylized version of his initials on the front of his black cap, Federer made his first public appearance at Melbourne Park today, the day before the Australian Open starts.

Given his preference for perfection and penchant for fashion, it likely was no coincidence he chose to wear the new cap to coincide with his bid to win the Australian Open for the third straight year — a hat-trick in other parlance.

He is stamping his name on his apparel like he has on tennis' biggest prizes.

Federer has won 12 Grand Slam titles, two short of Pete Sampras' all-time record, and figured in the last 10 finals — winning eight.

But he goes into the season's first major without a competitive match in two months after withdrawing from his regular tuneup event at Kooyong because of a stomach virus.

He was fast to quash any suggestion that the bug upset his preparations as much as his stomach.

"It's been some sort of a different preparation to some other Grand Slams," he said of a buildup restricted to hitting with Swiss Davis Cup captain Serevin Luethi.

"It's always tough in Australia because you don't have many matches coming in but I'm very much used to it — not playing for four to six weeks and then coming in and playing a big tournament.

"So for me, it's not much of a change."

Just to be clear, he reiterated: "Physically I'm fine now, no more issues. I would consider myself 100 percent."

He is cautious, having lost six times in the first round of a major — though not since he took over the No. 1 ranking in February 2004 — requesting and receiving a Tuesday start against 107-ranked Diego Hartfield of Argentina to get some extra practice on the new, blue Plexicushion surface.

"I know the difficulties of a first round. They're never easy, no matter how you enter, with full confidence or little," he said.

In previous years here, as defending champion, he has had a first-day start.

Women's champion Serena Williams will be first match on center court.

And two former women's champions who weren't in Melbourne last year when Serena Williams made her remarkable run to her eighth Grand Slam title are also in action on the opening day.

No. 1 Justine Henin was dealing with a marriage breakup and skipped the last event, and Lindsay Davenport was pregnant with her first child and on a break from the tour.

Both come to Melbourne in sparkling form.

Henin won the French and U.S. Opens and the season-ending championship, then added the Sydney International title on Friday to enter the season's first major on a 28-match winning streak.

Her only loss in six months was against Marion Bartoli in the Wimbledon semifinals.

Henin reached the final here in 2006 but had to retire against Amelie Mauresmo because of stomach cramps, to the ire of critics who questioned her decision.

"I feel comfortable with what happened two years ago — and last year everyone knows why I wasn't here," she said on the eve of her her opening match against Japan's Aiko Nakamura. "I don't have the feeling I have anything to prove to anyone. I just have a lot of motivation."

Davenport, 31, has won three titles and is 18-1 since returning to the tour following the birth of her son, Jagger, last June.

But her low ranking (No. 52) meant the winner of 54 tour titles was unseeded for the draw and put her on a collision course with last year's runner-up, Maria Sharapova, in the second round.

Davenport opens her campaign on Margaret Court Arena against Italy's Sara Errani, while fifth-seeded Sharapova is on Vodafone Arena against Jelena Kostanic Tosic of Croatia.

No. 3 Jelena Jankovic faces Tamira Paszek in the other women's showcourt matches.

On the men's side, No. 2-ranked Rafael Nadal, the only player to beat Federer at the last 10 Grand Slams — twice in two years at the French — is against Viktor Troicki of Serbia in the night match on center court.

Sixth-seeded Andy Roddick is against Czech qualifier Lukas Dlouhy and No. 9 Andy Murray has a challenging opener against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France.

Nikolay Davydenko, still subject to a gambling probe by the ATP that has been running since last August, will play Michael Llodra.

Organizers have banned onsite gambling and blocked gambling web sites from publicly accessible computers at Melbourne Park.

For those who could bet, the odds on Serena Williams winning in Melbourne would be a lot lower than those offered 12 months ago.

She is fitter and trimmer than she was in '07, when she entered with a No. 81 ranking. Despite that, she beat six seeded players and capped it with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Sharapova in the final.

Her expectations are so high for a title defense that she did not even know who her first-round rival was when asked on Saturday, two days before she was due to start.