By Mike McIntyre

One week to go until the start of the Australian Open and there are two final warm-up tournaments for players to fine-tune their games this week.

Medibank International - Sydney

No doubt due to his shocking first round upset at the hands of Ernests Gulbis last week in Brisbane, Novak Djokovic is a late wildcard entrant in Sydney and the number one seed as well. Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Andy Murray all have a few matches under their belts and are choosing not to play any competitive matches. The upside to Djokovic playing this week is that it will hopefully give him a confidence boost heading into his first Grand Slam defense. Of course a successful week here in Sydney might leave him at risk of being tired before the five set matches begin next week. A trade-off he has already considered.

“I usually try to keep the week before any grand slam [free] because I want to prepare and I want to save as much energy as I can,” Djokovic told the media today.

“Because you’re playing the best-of-five and it’s not easy under the difficult conditions, under the big heat. But, as I said, I’ve had a lack of the matches and I made some major changes, with the racquet for example, so I need to get some more matches under my belt so I can feel comfortable.”

Apart from Djokovic, keep an eye on Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to make some noise. If the two meet up in the semis here it will be a rematch of the Aussie Open final of 2008. Since that time Tsonga has made amends with three straight wins against the Serb, all on hard courts.

The bottom half of the draw is more up for grabs. David Nalbandian is not usually known for his stellar January play. Despite winning this title four times before, Lleyton Hewitt looked terrible in the Hopman Cup last week and has not been a true threat on the tour in some time. Gilles Simon is seeded second but could face either countryman Richard Gasquet or last year's winner Dmitry Tursunov in the second round.

Two qualifiers worth noting are Xavier Malisse and Canadian Frank Dancevic. Malisse has the talent to make some noise and is looking to get his career back on track after injury difficulties of late. Dancevic can be tough on hard courts himself and also struggled with injury issues last year. Both came through three rounds of qualifying and have some momentum already in their corner.

Heineken Open - Auckland

A slightly less competitive tournament is taking place in nearby New Zealand. Looking at the draw it appears as though the clay court players decided to get their hard court warm-up beating up on each other. Names like Hanescu, Monaco, Montanes, Almagro, Calleri and Ferrer are not often seen together entered in a tournament held on rebound ace.

There are some legitimate hard court talents here as well, headlined by number one seed Juan Martin Del Potro. Hardly known at this time last year, Del Potro made a name for himself with four consecutive tournament wins during the summer of 2008. Swede Robin Soderling could trouble him if they both collide in the semis.

In the bottom half look for in-shape Sam Querrey to start making some noise. I'm sure Gil Reyes had him working hard in the off season. David Ferrer is capable of victories on any surface and won here in 2007, and Kei Nishikori is also lurking and could cause some trouble.

Both tournaments this week are offering 250 ranking points to the victor and might provide a nice confidence boost heading into Grand Slam play. Seven more days till the first Slam of the year - we're almost there folks!