The Australian Open is almost here. As part of our preview package for the year's first Grand Slam, Matt Cronin offers his top women's storylines headed in to the fortnight in Melbourne. For the top men's stories, click here.
Will Justine Henin recapture her Slam-winning form?
After a year and a half off trying to recover from emotional burnout, seven-time Grand Slam champion Justine Henin is back and appears raring to go. She's put her failed marriage and acting ambitions behind her, and her coach — Carlos Rodriguez — says that she's more easygoing now and isn't riddled with anxiety.
That could be a good thing for the Belgian, who was always one of the WTA's most intense personalities and drove herself extremely hard, sometimes to her benefit, and other times at the expense of her body and mind.
Henin comes back with more variety than any other player on tour and with the intention of adding even more speed to what was already an excellent serve. In just her first tournament in Brisbane, she reached the final and nearly toppled her old Fed Cup teammate Kim Clijsters before falling in a third set tiebreaker.
Henin was always a little more mentally tough than Clijsters and nearly the equal of Serena Williams. If she doesn't get hurt at the Aussie Open, expect her not to miss a beat. It's not going to be easy going in unseeded, but the 2004 champion has beaten every player of significance before and she believes she can do it again.
Can Kim Clijsters finally become a dominant player?
After she returned to the tour last summer and won another major at the U.S. Open just six weeks into her comeback, the 26-year-old Clijsters served notice that it's more than possible that she could seize control of the women's tour for an extended period of time.
The new mother came back a much more confident person, says she's in the best shape of her career and now has a willingness not only to play standout defense, but to rip the cover off the ball against the likes of Serena Williams.
It's hard to tell whether Clijsters' body will hold up over the long haul, but she has the airtight game and amazing speed that could bring her title after title. Her recent victories over Serena and Henin were huge for her psychologically, as those were the two players who gave her the most trouble in the past. She had Henin on the ropes in the 2004 Australian Open final and should have been able to close out that match. Perhaps the new and more mature Clijsters will be able to do so if given a chance in 2010.
Can Serena Williams win the Australian Open in an even-numbered year?
Maybe it's a stretch, but there has to be something to the fact that Serena Williams has won all four of her Australian Open crowns in 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2009. As great as she's been at the majors, the 11-time Grand Slam champion has never found it easy to repeat, only doing so at Wimbledon in 2003 and 2004.
This year in Australia, she'll be facing a series of huge hurdles — certainly more difficult than last year, when she battered Dinara Safina for the crown. Two of her prime rivals — Clijsters and Henin — are back, seriously strengthening the field, and 2008 Aussie Open victor Maria Sharapova appears to have almost fully recovered from shoulder surgery, adding another dangerous threat.
But Serena's biggest hurdle may be emotional, as this will be the first major she's played since imploding at the U.S. Open, where she verbally assaulted a lineswoman and received a substantial fine. She's on a two-year probation, so she cannot afford to lose her cool, and given that she's always been the type of player who is most comfortable letting her emotions hang out, that will be an odd position to be in.
Game-wise, top-ranked Serena has it all to win her fifth title, but if she had to go up against the likes of Henin, is she going to be able to maintain her intensity level and let out her signature screams when she knows the crowd is just looking for a chance to rain boos down upon her? That's very much in question.
Has Maria Sharapova actually turned the corner?
Sharapova did a very good job of getting herself back into contention last year after having to take off nine months due to shoulder trouble. While she spent most of the summer fiddling with her service motion with marginal success and was often plagued by double faults and poor second serves, she improved the other parts of her game and was devastating with her returns and surprisingly solid on defense.
Now the Russian says that she's feels confident enough in her shoulder to be able to employ her old, long wind-up in her serve and if she can get back to dictating with that stroke and keep her nose in front of points, there's no reason why she can't be a major title contender.
But even Sharapova knows that the proof will be in the pudding and she has to avoid too many early-round struggles if she going to be able to slug it out with Serena and the Belgians later on. If she does, a fourth Grand Slam title is possible.
Are any of the kids ready to triumph?
Men's tennis had a breakthrough player last year in the form of young Argentine Juan Martin Del Potro, but at the majors, the veterans took over the WTA with Serena Williams, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Kim Clijsters winning titles. Only one teenager — Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark — was able to make it to a Slam final when she sped her way to the final day of the U.S. Open.
There are a gaggle of young players with sizeable potential, including the gutsy Wozniacki, a tremendous defensive player; Belarussian Victoria Azarenka, who scorches the ball off the ground; Belgian Yanina Wickmayer, the tall and resourceful teen who reached the U.S. Open semifinals; Slovakia's Dominica Cibulkova, an athletic spark plug who can run down anything; as well as Germany's Sabine Lisicki, an extremely powerful player who is racing up the charts.
But all of them have holes in their games and may need another season of seasoning before they push back the veterans. Expect at least a few of them to knock off a seeded veteran or two, but if you are looking for players who have the willpower to pull off a big upset and possibly reach the final, take a glance at Wozniacki and Azarenka, who relish huge challenges and really believe they belong with the top 5.
