2008 Australian Open Women's Odds - Which Serena Will Show Up and More

If nothing else, the 2007 Sony Ericsson Women's WTA Tour showed that the sport, at least on the women's side, is flourishing better than ever with more talented players cropping up from countries covering the globe, more so today, than at any time in women's professional tennis history.

Though the four Grand Slam titles were won by three familiar faces in former or current World No. 1's, Justine Henin, Venus Williams and Serena Williams, several other Top 10 players made and indelible impressions on the sport and announced their respective arrivals to the ranks of the elite with big-time statements in some cases and slow and steady progress in others.

The fact of the matter is that every Grand Slam on the calendar in 2008 has a legitimate chance of being won by multiple top 10 challengers outside of the aforementioned trio.

From the likes of Maria Sharapova to Svetlana Kuznetsova, Jelena Jankovic, Amelie Mauresmo, Nicole Vaidisova, Ana Ivanovic, Anna Chakvetadze and a returning Lindsay Davenport, the tour's top 10 players have improved to a degree that it is difficult to pinpoint which one of the world's elite players will come out on top at any given tournament.

Having said that, the 2008 Australian Open is a perfect example, despite the fact that last year's winner, Serena Williams has to be considered the favorite to win in 2008 after winning the 2007 title in emphatic fashion over a stunned Sharapova who had breezed through the tournament up until that point where she crumbled fast and hard to Williams' unrelenting power.

Not only did Williams, who has seen a decline in her physical health the past couple of seasons, win the 2007 title, but she has also won three of the last five Australian Opens, including 2005 when she beat Lindsay Davenport 2-6, 6-3, 6-0 and 2003, when she beat sister Venus, 7-6(4), 3-6, 6-4.

Heck, if you want to talk Grand Slam dominance, it must be noted that one of the Williams sisters has won at least one Grand Slam tournament in seven out of the last nine years and multiple titles in six of those seasons, including four straight from 2000 to 2003.