Paging Sine: Great to know that I'm not the only person that is a Sharapova fan. I've basically supported her since I was 8/9 years old, in awe of her capabilities at such a young age, mentality and her work ethic. Although taking Meldonium after it was banned was wrong, it's sour grapes of players to say that she has cheated all these years and that they were robbed just because she has won a lot. There is absolutely nothing wrong with doing things that enhances your performance as long as it is completely legal. Pretty sure almost all players (if not all) does that.
I don't think that any of the female players that I particularly like has a decent chance of winning (Sharapova, Halep and Azarenka). All of them played very few matches this year. My prediction is the same as everyone else-Kerber or S.Williams.
As for the men's-probably Djokovic or Federer. I would love Anderson to win though (seems like a really nice person), and came really close to beating Djokovic in a final in Middle-east just before the new year (also won against Nadal). Karchanov and Zverev (if he can overcome his sub-par grand slam performance trend) are also a strong challenger, would be happy if either of them won as well. Would prefer Federer over Djokovic, although of Djokovic plays like he did in the 2nd half of last year, no one would say he doesn't deserve it
I hope that de Minaur does well but his comments regarding the schedule are ridiculous. I agree that it's unfortunate that he has to play today and was right in requesting a postponement. Claiming that the Aus Open is supposed to help Australian players do well and that the schedules are purposely disadvantaging them is really weird. Although given his age, probably shouldn't take it too seriously and give him credit that he's handling things extremely well overall.
Really sad that my favourites mens player-Andy Murray, is retiring soon. I've been supporting him for 10 years, and seeing him evolve as a player and even more as a person is special. Genuinely seems like one of the most down-to-earth people around, and has done a lot to support Nick Kyrgios and gender equality in sports (while I supported him before he started doing those things, it was a nice bonus).
EDIT (since Murray is playing right now): Murray's reaction after winning the 3rd set... Even as this will probably be his last Aus Open match (hopefully not the last match of his career), and he wasn't expecting to do to well anyway, he still has so much drive and passion.