Virginia Wade was the last British tennis player to win the Australian Open when she triumphed over Evonne Goolagong in 1972.
Since then, Andy Murray has reached the final five times but has lost on every occasion.
Though there has been little success for Brits at this tournament in recent times, there is more optimism than usual this time around.
Rising star Emma Raducanu is the defending US Open champion and has proven she is capable of winning a major tournament.
Meanwhile, in the men’s draw, Murray is playing his best tennis since 2017 and reached the final of the Sydney Tennis Classic last week.
In total, there were seven Brits who qualified for the Australian Open. Here’s how they all got on in the first round:
Harriet Dart
Harriet Dart won three qualifying matches to reach the main draw but was dealt a tough opening opponent in seventh seed Iga Świątek.
The 25-year-old was outclassed by the former French Open winner and lost in straight sets 6-3 6-0.
Cameron Norrie
Cameron Norrie is the men’s British number one and was seeded 12th for this year’s event.
Norrie won his second ATP title at Indian Wells last year but has struggled ever since.
His poor form continued in Melbourne as he suffered a straight-sets defeat to 21-year-old Sebastian Korda.
The US youngster is the younger brother of LPGA Tour pros Nelly and Jessica Korda.
Andy Murray
Murray was drawn against Georgia’s Nikoloz Basilashvili –– a player he beat only last week in Sydney.
Basilashvili was seeded 21st but it was Murray who emerged victorious again in a five-set epic.
Murray took the first and third sets, only for the 29-year-old to fight back on both occasions.
After Murray held his serve to lead 5-4 in the decider, the Brit then claimed the decisive break to win the match and set up a clash against Japan’s Taro Daniel in the next round.
Heather Watson
Heather Watson reached the second round in Melbourne for the third successive year, after a three-set win over Mayar Sherif.
However, the 29-year-old last reached the third round of a major in 2017 at Wimbledon.
Watson faces 29th seed Tamara Zidanšek in her next match. Zidanšek reached the semi-finals at Roland Garros last year, but like Watson, she is yet to reach the third round at the Australian Open.
Liam Broady
Unseeded Liam Broady was drawn against Nick Kyrgios and suffered a straight-sets defeat to the 26-year-old.
The match was played in the John Cain Arena –– a court Kyrgios has often thrived on.
The controversial Australian won the support of the crowd and pulled off a number of scintillating winners, much to their delight.
Dan Evans
Dan Evans has made it through to round two with ease, following a straight-sets win over Belgium’s David Goffin.
The world number 25 will now face the unseeded Arthur Rinderknech in round two.
Emma Raducanu
It was a tough opening match for Raducanu, who was drawn against former US Open champion, Sloane Stephens.
But the teenager showed impressive resilience to come through a tough three-set encounter.
Raducanu will play world number 98 Danka Kovinić next up.