One of the less prominent pages on the Australian Open website is just as interesting as the 'Match on Progress' one everyone looks for.

A lot can be learned from the 'Players/Country Scoreboard' page about the powers in tennis today and the depth each country has in both the women's and men's game. And this morning, after five days of action in Melbourne, one country had a scary statistic –  Russia.

Day one of the tournament saw no fewer than 21 Russian players on the courts of Melbourne Park. Three rounds later, that country still has 12 representatives in the tournament – eight of them women. Again, they have taken the world of tennis by a storm.

'France had the biggest number of players starting the tournament last Sunday – 29. Only nine of them will still be in action from tomorrow onwards'

By contrast, the USA started the tournament with 26 players in the different draws, and after less than a week finds itself with only eight survivors in the warm and sticky conditions Down Under. Argentina is not doing much better. Fifteen players started the tournament, and only two survive – one of them of course David Nalbandian, the torch-bearer for this once-great empire of tennis.

France had the biggest number of players starting the tournament last Sunday – 29. Only nine of them will still be in action from tomorrow onwards.

And yet  if  we look for is for the likely title winners, the chances are the men's and women's champions will come from countries with a more modest all-around number of players.