AAMI Classic tournament director Colin Stubs has denied suggestions next year's field has been weakened with just three top-10 players confirming their attendance for the traditional Australian Open warm-up event.
Swiss world No.2 Roger Federer, who won his fifth consecutive US Open in August, returns after missing this year's event to headline the eight-man field and will be joined by countryman Stanislas Wawrinka, ranked ninth, and American No.10 James Blake.
Olympic silver medallist Fernando Gonzalez from Chile, popular Russian Marat Safin, former Australian Open finalist Marcos Baghdatis and Latvian up-and-comer Ernests Gulbis have also confirmed their appearance.
Argentinean rising star Juan Martin Del Potro, Spain's Fernando Verdasco and Croatian Marin Cilic are all in line for the remaining spot.
Three-time champion Andy Roddick was only a '30 percent' chance of returning, Stubs said, with the American believed to only want to play one or two matches in the lead-up to the year's first grand slam.
Britain's Andy Murray, who has rocketed up to fourth in the rankings, and world No.1 Rafael Nadal, who is battling knee tendonitis, are both likely to sit out the week leading into the Australian Open.
"I think the fact that there aren't so many top-10 ranked players in the field - normally we'd have four to six - it doesn't bother me really," Stubs said at the tournament's launch at Kooyong in Melbourne's eastern suburbs on Thursday.
"I happen to think that some of the players in the top 10 … let's put it this way, I'd rather watch Marcos Baghdatis at 42 or Marat Safin at 40 in the world than any of those."
"We're about constructing a field which is marketable and a field which is going to provide for our patrons the type of tennis that we're looking for."
Federer, 27, was forced to withdraw from this year's AAMI Classic due to illness but still went on to reach the semi-finals of the Australian Open. He was a finalist at the French Open and Wimbledon before clinching his 13th grand slam title at Flushing Meadows.
Stubs was delighted to have attracted Gulbis to the tournament, with the 20-year-old regarded as one of the most promising talents on the ATP Tour.
Wawrinka and Blake will make their debuts at Kooyong, while Gonzalez will play for the third time and Safin, who reached the semis of Wimbledon, will participate for the fourth time.
"There's no question that this club has a special place in history of the game, not just in Australia but internationally as well," Stubs said. "We're really not interested in players who don't have an appreciation of what this place holds in world tennis."
The 2009 AAMI Classic runs from January 14-17.