MELBOURNE: If players, pundits and bookmakers are to be believed, Serena Williams has already sewn up her sixth Australian Open title and the other 127 women in the draw may as well pick up their racquets and head home.
Riding a 22-match winning streak, the American arrives in Melbourne fit, fresh and ravenous for more grand slam success at an event where injuries and illness have robbed her of more silverware.
Age has not wearied the 32-year-old, who after winning her second French Open crown last year became the oldest woman to win the US Open when she raised her 17th grand slam trophy at Flushing Meadows.
The winner at Melbourne Park in 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009 and 2010, another triumph would see Williams equal Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert’s tally of 18 major titles and draw her closer to German great Steffi Graf’s 22. Australian Margaret Court leads the all-time list with 24.
Williams’s place in the tennis pantheon is assured but her coach Patrick Mouratoglou believes the American could secure a calendar grand slam, which would make her the third woman after Court in 1970 and Graf in 1988 to achieve the feat in the open era.
“Look at the level she plays at the moment,” Mouratoglou told the BBC this week. “She’s beaten all the top players many times, so you can aim that high.”
In contrast to the men’s tour, which has been blessed by the power struggles between Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray, the women’s tour is crying out for a genuine challenger to Williams.
Victoria Azarenka, who will bid for a hat-trick of titles in Melbourne, and Maria Sharapova are again the most credible threats. (AFP)