PARIS(AP) That Serena Williams is again the top-ranked player in the world, having sunk as low as No. 140 with injuries in 2006, speaks as much to the unsettled nature of women's tennis as to her own formidable strengths.
Fact is, no single player has emerged to fill the vacuum left by the surprise retirement last May of Justine Henin, the seven-time Grand Slam champion who at age 25 became the first woman to walk away from the sport while ranked No. 1.
The current No. 2, Dinara Safina, showed her mental frailties by collapsing 6-0, 6-3 to Williams at the Australian Open last month, a 59-minute final in which the Russian, by her own admission, was ``just a ballboy.''
Aside from Williams, the only other woman in the top six to have won a Grand Slam singles title is her own sister, Venus, who has seven to Serena's 10. The continued absence of Maria Sharapova, the former No. 1 who has slumped to 16th, is sorely felt. Even she doesn't know for certain when her injured right shoulder might allow her to return to the tour's rigors.
So there's a distinct feeling that Williams is back on top as much by default as by her own considerable efforts and talents. The lack of challengers with her consistency also means you have to like her chances at the next major hurdle on the tennis horizon: the French Open.
Williams is in Paris this week for an indoor hard-court tournament, the Open GDF Suez. She owns an apartment in France's capital and loves being able to walk downstairs for crusty croissants and wander anonymously through the fresh food markets. Toss her a merci'' and she lobs ade rien'' - say nothing of it - right back in French.
``Oh, I love it. I can totally live here full time,'' Williams gushed to reporters.
It's much easier than hanging out in the United States,'' she said.I like the fact that I can kind of be myself. I do whatever I want to do and don't have to worry about being recognized. I can just live more of a normal life and it's really cool.''
Perhaps that home-away-from-home feeling of comfort will make a difference at Roland Garros, the major where she has had least success, with just one title in 2002 in her only French Open final.
In 2003, the French was where her ``Serena Slam'' of four consecutive major titles came to a bitter end. A hostile crowd cheered her mistakes in a riveting semifinal against Henin, an experience that reduced the normally solid Williams to tears at her postmatch news conference.
And last year, she was bundled out in the third round, her worst Roland Garros performance since 1999.
If Williams can now find the way to win again on the heavy red clay then tongues will really start wagging that 2009 could be the year that she completes the Holy Grail of a Grand Slam of wins in all four majors - the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and U.S. Open - in a single calendar year.
Such a title chase could do wonders for reinjecting interest into the women's game, which has looked flat in comparison to the dizzying heights of excellence and suspense reached by Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer in their battle for supremacy on the men's side.
Only three women have achieved the Grand Slam, the last being the superlative Steffi Graf in 1988. Williams is the only one who can do it this year, having captured her fourth Australian title two weeks ago.
In the brutal heat of Melbourne - she described the conditions there as ``cruel and unusual punishment'' - Williams showed she can still force wins even when she's not playing her best tennis and that she is plenty fit.
At Wimbledon, she's a two-time champion and would have won last year, too, had it not been for big sister Venus, who had the slightest of edges in their close-fought final. It is not overreaching to predict that Serena should again be a force on the English grass this year. Williams will go into the U.S. Open in August as a three-time winner and the defending champion.
So, on paper at least, that leaves the French as her biggest Grand Slam challenge.
But, for the moment, she's playing it cool.
``I've had this opportunity for four years to complete the Grand Slam and I haven't done it. This year I'm just totally free,'' she said this week.
At Roland Garros last year, I put a lot of pressure on myself and I'm not putting any pressure on myself this year,'' she added.If I win, great. If I don't there's always next year.''
Oh, come on Serena. Wouldn't that French trophy look great on your Paris mantelpiece?
---=
John Leicester is an international sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at jleicesterap.org