The best example is Monica Seles. She clinched the Hopman Cup as a 17-year-old for Yugoslavia in 1991 on the way to the first of her four Australian Open singles titles.

Seles returns to this mixed-teams tournament -- an important warmup for the year's first Grand Slam event -- after a 10-year absence.

She will become the first player to represent two countries. This time, she is teamed with Jan-Michael Gambill for the United States.

Martina Hingis followed a similar path when she reached the final at 15 in her first Hopman Cup for Switzerland in 1996 and followed with a quarterfinal berth in her first Open.

She won the next three Australian Opens, after appearances in Perth in 1997 and 1999. On Saturday, she said the Hopman was the ideal preparation because it uses the same surface and balls as at the Australian Open

``That's what I tell Martina and Monica -- that they've done well at the Australian Open after playing here,'' said McNamee, the Hopman Cup organizer and former Australian player.

``The best ammunition I've got for the field is that players like Richard Krajicek, Michael Stich, Yannick Noah, when they came here had their best ever Australian Open.''

The Hopman Cup's connection with success was evident in its inaugural year in 1989. The winning Czech team of Miroslav Mecir and Helena Sukova both made their only singles finals in Melbourne.

The main draw of the tournament begins Sunday when Switzerland plays Thailand.

The Americans, seeded third, will compete in Group B with Slovakia, Russia and Belgium. Belgium beat Japan 2-1 Saturday to qualify for the main draw.

Group A features top-seeded Switzerland, represented by Hingis and Roger Federer, plus Australia, Thailand and defending champion South Africa.