Can Serena win a calendar slam?

Melbourne: Already thoughts are turning to Paris's 16th arrondissement, where the next grand slam tournament begins in late May, and to Wimbledon in June.

If Serena Williams, the Australian Open champion, can win the French Open title for only the second time in her career, the Grand Slam could be on, as she would then be emboldened to go on to score trophies in London and at New York's US Open.

There is little doubt that the Californian has the talent to win in all four Grand Slam cities in a calendar year.

In 2002 and 2003, she had all four major titles in her possession, an achievement she liked to call "The Serena Slam", but she had not ripped through the four slams in a calendar year. Perhaps it will happen this season.

Resistance

Williams has been saying that her 2002 French Open title is her only slam victory without "a twin". Still, after watching Saturday's final in the Rod Laver Arena, when she was taken to three sets by Justine Henin, including at one stage losing 15 points in succession, it would appear that the world No 1 is likely to encounter plenty of resistance from the dinky Belgian.

If Henin had stayed retired, there would be a much greater chance of Williams cleaning up at the slams in 2010.

This was the first grand slam tournament of Henin's return to the circuit, and the former world No 1 came within a few games of winning the title.

Williams had to be at her bloody-minded best for a 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 victory that enabled her to retain her title, to win the trophy for the fifth time and to have "the honour" of putting herself level with the watching Billie Jean King on a dozen slam singles titles.

"I think everyone was for Justine," Williams said. "But you know what really helped me out? This one guy was like, ‘You can beat her Justine, she's not that good'. I looked at that guy and I was like, ‘You don't know me.' I think I won all the games after that because that's totally rude."

Just think how much more effective Henin will be when she is back on her beloved clay at Roland Garros, where she has won four of her seven major titles.

Since you need to have played in three tournaments to receive a ranking, and this was only her second, Henin will still be without official status when the new list is published this morning, but expect her to be back in the top 10 by the French Open.

— Telegraph Group Limited, London 2010