Roger Federer trained in relative secrecy at Melbourne Park, the home of the Australian Open, the partnership of Andy Roddick and Jimmy Connors is fraught with suspense and Andy Murray lost a match to Marat Safin in an exhibition tournament here that caused certain reputable news organisations to suggest that the British No 1’s excellent start to 2008 had been little more than a desert mirage.

As the great and the good of the sport gather to await the opening grand-slam tournament of the year, everyone is getting cranky. All, that is, bar Alex Bogdanovic and Jamie Baker, the contenders for the second singles place in Great Britain’s Davis Cup World Group first-round tie in Argentina next month that even the most zealous Britain fanatics accept is an exercise in damage limitation.

Bogdanovic and Baker would love to qualify for the Australian Open, something neither has managed. At the back of their minds, they accept that if one does much better than the other, he is certain to persuade John Lloyd, the Britain captain, of his right to a place in the team in Buenos Aires as the player who will have to try to draw blood from David Nalbandian, the Argentina No 1, on the first day.

Baker’s 6-2, 6-0 victory over Yuri Schukin, the Russian ranked No 9 in the qualifying draw, was the effort of the afternoon until Bogdanovic beat Robby Ginepri, the American who lost in five sets to Andre Agassi in the 2005 US Open semi-final, for the loss of four games. Touché.

Lloyd’s mind was temporarily taken off the fact that neither of his suitcases had arrived from Los Angeles and that he had had to fork out A$200 (about £90) in the past couple of days to keep up appearances. He knows that the left-hander from London out of Belgrade and the right-hander from Glasgow are his only hopes of summoning a singles player to accompany Murray into hostile Argentine environs in the second week of February.

Thus, it has almost come down to a tit-for-tat challenge; whatever one can do, the other has to do better. Baker’s victory was commendable, especially because he recovered five break points in his first service game and refused to be shaken from his game plan, which emphasised the need to go for Russian blood from the start. Baker, at No 217 in the world, is 97 places below Schukin, but that did not measure out as his backhand, both in a more aggressive double-handed attack and an ever-improving cross-court sliced defence, dragged all the confidence from his opponent.

Lloyd reckoned that it was the best he had seen Baker play in two years, only for his head to be turned later in the day when Bogdanovic made a meagre six unforced errors in securing a 6-3, 6-1 victory over the American who has tumbled 80 ranking spots in a year. Ginepri, who was No 15 in the world at the beginning of 2006, needed two bouts of treatment on rigid neck muscles, but that cannot detract from the British No 2’s success, one built on the kind of upright self-confidence he has often lacked.

It was said when Brad Gilbert and Murray went their separate ways in November that the American coach’s main task in remaining at the LTA would be to steer Bogdanovic’s ranking improvement and yet yesterday Peter Lundgren, the Davis Cup coach from Sweden, was first to wrap his arms across Bogdanovic’s shoulders. Gilbert is, by all accounts, working 12 tournaments in Bogdanovic’s company this year, but the Australian Open is not one.

Coaching partnerships remain the talk of tennis. Federer is not ready to announce if he will employ one and so, as he strived to recover from the food poisoning that has laid him low here, he was reliant again only on Mirka Vavrinec, his girlfriend, for advice. Amazingly, Roddick’s partnership with Connors, which began at Wimbledon two years ago and has enhanced the younger American’s tennis, remains in a state of confusion. Connors practised with Roddick in Hawaii last week in preparation for Australia, they are together at the AAMI Classic in Kooyong this week and yet Connors will be flying home on Sunday evening, the day before the Australian Open starts.