Week 2: Simona Halep comes back on the court!

The of the year will see tennis players taking the stage in four official tournaments, plus an exhibition event. These are the seven days preceding the Australian Open; the tests will serve to all the competitors to verify their current state of shape, despite many top players this week will rest to preserve the energies for Melbourne.

In the two exhibition matches, the , Alexander Zverev will challenge Borna Coric, while Coco Vandeweghe will face Victoria Azarenka. These are two interesting challenges, but obviously they will not put points at stake.

The mens tour will have tournaments played in and . In New Zealand there will be John Isner, Fabio Fognini, Pablo Carreno, David Ferrer and Gael Monfils. In Sydney (combined ATP / WTA) Stefanos Tsitsipas, Frances Tiafoe, Andrey Rublev, Daniil Medvedev, Diego Schwartzman and Lucas Pouille will play.

Women will have the commitments in and . In Hobart there will be Caroline Garcia, Alize Cornet, Dayana Yastremska and Belinda Bencic. The Sydney womens tournament will instead be full of stars.

Expections are high for the official comeback of world no. 1 Simona Halep, in her first match of the season. Angelique Kerber, Garbine Muguruza, Aryna Sabalenka, Petra Kvitova, Dominika Cibulkova, Sloane Stephens and Jelena Ostapenko will also play.

It will be a very interesting week to follow, especially because it will be a real appetizer before Melbourne. ALSO READ: Week 1: Federer, Nadal and Djokovic ready to kick off the new season