There is no need to worry about 20-year old Victoria Azarenka, who grunts for release. Do not bother that in her four years on the tour, she has not won a Grand Slam Event. Not to fear. The pretty, queen-to-be has succeeded at every level since joining the IT Tour in 2003.

Fellow tour players did not have enough time to see how Kim Clijsters would return to the tour late last season. After three summer tune-ups, the 36 time tour winner and two-time Grand Slam Champion stole the show in New York at the U.S Open. A sentimental favorite, Clijsters had taken more than two years off to be with her newborn child. With her September victory, she became the first mother, since Yvonne Goolagang (1980) to win a major title.

Elena Dementieva has had to endure the label so many tennis players and golfers dread: the best player never to win a major. Spain’s Sergio Garcia is widely regarded as the male golfer who ought to have won a prestigious championship by now, but hasn’t. In men’s tennis, Andy Murray and Nikolay Davydenko are battling for that double-edged distinction, which carries with it both a compliment and a deficiency.

Just when it appeared Venus Williams had lost her early momentum, the five-time Wimbledon Champion once again showed the mettle that has made her such a force on the WTA tour. 20-year old challenger Victoria Azarenka left no doubt that her day is on the horizon, but her big breakthrough will have to come [...]