Tennis: Serena a grand chance of reining in Court

At her best, there is no better female tennis player on the planet. Photo / Getty Images

If you had to make a prediction in world sport to save your life, you could do a lot worse than putting your faith in Serena Williams winning this year's Australian Open.

She is a prohibitively short priced favourite, for all sorts of reasons:

» Form: She won at Brisbane, dispatching her two biggest rivals, Belarusian Victoria Azarenka and Maria Sharapova and, like Novak Djokovic, has won 22matches in a row and four tournaments consecutively.

» Ability: At her best, there is no better female player on the planet.

» History: She has won five of her 17 Slam singles titles in Melbourne, won 11 of 15 tournaments last year and 78 of 82 matches. She is also on the revenge trail-losing in Melbourne in shock defeats last year and 2012 (to Sloane Stephens and Ekaterina Makarova respectively).

But perhaps the main reason is focus. She, sometimes frustratingly, has not always kept her focus on tennis and on the fact that she could become the most prolific women's winner in the history of the sport.

Now Williams seems to have set her cap at winning Melbourne and tying with Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert on 18 Grand Slam singles championships.

She would then be only one title behind Helen Wills Moody and four behind Steffi Graf, the latter one behind Margaret Court, who holds the record with 24majors singles titles. Williams is only 32, as powerful a presence as ever, and passing Graf and maybe Court is motivation for her.

China's Li Na has a shot, as does Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska and the talented but inconsistent Petra Kvitova. Others to keep an eye on are as follows:

» Sam Stosur (Australia): Capable but will do well only if she can conquer the pressure she has clearly felt playing at home.

» Madison Keys (US): Only 18 but got through to the third round at Wimbledon and the Australian Open last year. Also beat Williams when she was just 14. A breakthrough at a major may not be far away.

» Sloane Stephens (US): Beat Williams and probably should have beaten Radwanska last year. Got to the last 16 or better at all four Slams and rose to 12 in the world. Has had a wrist injury lately but, if not impaired, look for her to do well again.

» Eugenie Bouchard (Canada): Only 19 and regarded as a future champion by no less a judge than Navratilova. Seeded 30 out of 32 seeds at Melbourne, she made the second or third round at each of the French and US Opens and Wimbledon, with her best performance coming at Wimbledon.

» Ana Ivanovic (Serbia): Discounted by many, she is coming in under the radar at Melbourne after winning well in Auckland against Venus Williams. She may well still be vulnerable to the power game of some but Auckland showed she is moving well and striking the ball relatively cleanly.