Excitement on the horizon.......by Iain Carter - BBC Sports Correspondent

Amid winter gloom, the sporting sun still shines through to provide a warming glow to ease us through otherwise the bleakest stretch of the year.
These cold, dark days are warmed and illuminated by top class action which fills us with a sense of anticipation for events later in 2018.
Here’s a small confession; from a personal point of view, January is the month where I’ve often pondered the wisdom of switching the sports I report on for BBC 5Live.
Back in 2003 I switched from tennis to my first sporting love of golf. There have been few regrets, but in the old days this is the point of the year when I would head down under for the Australian Open.

Given that I’m still lucky enough to commentate at Wimbledon (something you would never want to give up) the season’s first grand slam is the one I most miss. Who would not want to be in Melbourne at this time of year?

And it is not just to escape the wilds of the British winter.  The Aussie Open is one the great sporting events.

While Wimbledon achieves that unique blend of tradition, excellence, athleticism and drama, the Melbourne Park fortnight does the same in a majestically informal manner.
It is the ultimate party - astonishingly cosmopolitan, as fans from different parts of the world gather to witness tennis at the very highest level. Fueled by tinnies they are revved up by a festival atmosphere and it is wonderful.
They are about to do it all again for 2018. Alas for British fans it is in the absence of five times finalist Andy Murray.  The 30 year old Scot is recovering from hip surgery and is one of the victims of the arduous nature of modern day tennis.
Ironically, it is the punishing nature of the hard courts predominantly used on the ATP circuit including at Melbourne Park, that have taken their toll.
Murray is far from alone in suffering hip problems.  Australia’s favourite tennis son, Lleyton Hewitt, was another whose career was adversely affected by the toil of playing on such unrelenting courts.
Modern players employ an open stance to make the most of these playing conditions.  It means generating power from rotation around the body’s core and that loads the pressure on the hip region.
Murray’s priority is to be back playing in time for the grass court season, and in particular Wimbledon where he is a two time champion.

The Scots’ recent triumphs have brought an extra lustre to the SW19 fortnight and by going under the knife he is giving himself his best chance of being back there again this year.
But he will be missing at Melbourne Park in the coming fortnight for an Australian Open where we can expect new, young talent to blossom.
So many of the players who have dominated the game for the past decade are struggling with fitness issues.  Novak Djokovic (elbow), Rafa Nadal and Stan Wawrinka (knees) carry injury questionmarks into the year’s opening grand slam.
No player born after 1988 has won one of the game’s big four championships, such has been the dominance of the old guard.  Might this be the time for the likes of Grigor Dimitrov, Milos Raonic, Alexander Zverev or the the enigmatic Aussie Nick Kyrgios to step up?
Well, to do so, they will have to overcome the extraordinary Roger Federer, who defends the title he won so astonishingly last year.
The 36 year old Swiss is bidding for an unprecedented 20th Grand Slam title and his longevity is one of the sporting wonders of the world. The way Federer manages his fitness to prolong such a glorious career is truly something to behold.
While it would be lovely to be heading back to the Victorian capital, such an extraordinary venue for sport with the Melbourne Cricket Ground still basking in Ashes glory, I have a pretty decent consolation prize.

My plane ticket is for Abu Dhabi for the first big golf gathering of the new year on the European Tour.  This year’s tournament marks the return to action of what we expect to be a rejuvenated Rory McIlroy.
The Northern Irish former world number one has had his own injury woes and has been rediscovering full fitness during a period of resetting his career since last playing in the autumn.

Abu Dhabi marks the start of a heavy period of play as McIlroy sets his sights on April’s Masters, the one major title to have so far eluded him.
Indeed, Georgia - and more precisely Augusta - is already on the minds of the world’s leading players.  McIlroy wants a green jacket more than any other golfing trophy.
So does the world number one Dustin Johnson after cruelly missing out when playing the golf of his life last year thanks to a freak injury sustained falling down stairs on the eve of the tournament.
Johnson has already won the PGA Tour’s Tournament of Champions in Hawaii this year and will be part of a steller field in Abu Dhabi next week.

And then, of course, there is Tiger Woods.  Fresh from an encouraging return to action in the Bahamas last November, the four times Masters champion is readying himself to return to the American circuit.
 

Woods plays at Torrey Pines the week after next.  Everything suggests he has, at long last, put behind him his debilitating back problems and is ready for one final rip at overhauling Jack Nicklaus’ record of eighteen major titles.
Stuck on fourteen since the 2008 US Open, it is asking an awful lot of the now 42 year old but we underestimate Woods at our peril.
His return to Augusta looks like being one of the sporting stories of 2018, especially if he can show himself to be competitive in the coming weeks.
The Woods, McIlroy and Johnson storylines allied to a Sergio Garcia title defence suggests 2018 will provide a vintage Masters.
As Woods tries to go injury-free in the upcoming weeks on the PGA Tour’s West Coast swing, the same can be said of Europe’s leading players in the ultra-attritional world of rugby union.

For those of us keen to absorb sport closer to home, the NatWest 6 Nations is just around the corner.  Is there any better vehicle to carry us through from the depths of winter to the joys of spring than this annual rugby-fest?
Whether at Twickenham, Murrayfield, Cardiff, Dublin, Rome, Paris and this year Marseille too, the 6 Nations never fails to generate passion, glory and unbridled sporting sociability.
Again, I’m lucky enough to cover these matches for the BBC and can’t wait to take my Middle East tan to these wonderful venues.  Someone has to do it!

This year’s championship promises to be very special, indeed. England are justifiable favourites but face stern competition from Ireland and a rejuvenated and adventurous Scotland.

The Calcutta Cup clash at Murrayfield should be a belter. But each of the 6 Nations fixtures carries a great sense of occasion.

The anthems, packed grounds and rugby of the highest intensity magnificently capture the imagination.

There is so much to look forward to in the coming weeks.  Fear not, sport is your best friend at this time of year - winter will be done before you know it.