So Serena Williams won’t be at the Australian Open and that will, of course, increase the chances of the other main contenders.
Even though she hadn’t played a competitive match since the birth of her first child, and indeed hadn’t been in action since her title at last year’s Australian Open, bookmakers still penned Williams as the outright favourite to go and win the title again there for what would have been the eighth time.
But now the path has been cleared for someone to take the limelight and it is Spain’s Garbine Muguruza who is now the 8/1 outright favourite at Coral to sweep the title. The World Number Two and former French Open and Wimbledon winner heads up the field in what is a tight pack alongside Karolina Pliskova and Simona Halep, both of whom are looking for their first career Grand Slam titles.
Pliskova has been a pretty solid force in the Grand Slams recently with her having reached at least the quarterfinals in four of the last five Grand Slam events. As for Simona Halep, time and again she has come close to making that breakthrough, such as reaching the final of the French Open for the second time last season. But that Grand Slam title has evaded her and with major misfires in both hard court Slams last season, there are questions about her mental focus on the biggest stage of all.
Svitolina lining up for greatness?
So who is likely to be the biggest benefactor of Williams’ absence in Melbourne? Perhaps Britain’s Jo Konta as she goes in search of her first Grand Slam glory. Maybe Maria Sharapova will pull things together or even Caroline Wozniacki will manage to get her first slam. There are a lot of leading players going into this tournament looking for a Slam first and because the field is wide open and really the top ten in the world are so evenly matched, then the 9/1 value on Elina Svitolina at Coral to win the Australian Open appeals massively.
In the warm-up event in Brisbane, Svitolina rattled her way past Pisklova in a high-pressure semi-final clash and last season she won more WTA titles than anyone else picked up. The rigours of the season got to her down the back end of the season but she should come back even stronger and a favourable draw can aid her quest in trying to get past the third round of the Australian Open for the first time in her career.
Character and grit shines through
Yes, that’s the best that she has managed in Melbourne but in getting the better of Pliskova in Brisbane, Svitolina showed some tremendously dogged character and she looks ready to fight. She looks fresh, renewed and ready to go. That was some bold, fearless play along the way in Brisbane and if she brings that, then she could easily get close to the title. The one issue with her last season was letting concentration slip when cruising in sets, but she even overcame such a scenario in beating Pliskova in Brisbane.