It is hard to fathom the 2010 edition of womens tennis.

The best player only played the first half of the year, the second greatest player of the modern era was able to play even less, one Grand Slam threw up a most unlikely final pairing with an even less likely victor, another Slam showed lightning can in fact strike twice in the same place, a Russian less heard of nearly finished the year #1, with that honour falling to a young lady hailing from the Scandinavian nation that isn't associated with tennis. Hard to figure out alright.

The good news for Australia was Sam Stosur's bold run to the French Open Final, her semi final showing last week at the year end WTA Championships, and her year end ranking just outside the top 5. Heady stuff, with perhaps the only lingering disappointment occurring in not stopping Francesco Schiavone from smashing and grabbing her one chance at tennis immortality at Roland Garros.

Kim Clijsters, the winner with extraordinary lightning raids on not one but two consecutive US Opens after retiring from retirement, says Sam's turn will come, possibly as soon as the next major, our own Australian Open. There's good reason for that. In Sam circa 2011, we will have a highly seeded player in peak physical condition, a bonafide contender with far more experience at the top level. Sam will be buoyed by home crowds yearning for success, and let's hope if she gets there, she can play in front of sellout semis and finals crowds, something rather embarassingly absent the past few years, and forcing Tennis Australia to take the extraordinary decision to break parity with the men on ticket prices.

2010 was dealt a severe blow with Serena Williams having been unluckily injured after an emphatic defence of her Wimbledon crown, and Justine Henin's stylish comeback being halted by injury even earlier. These two greats will resume action in earnest at the Hyundai Hopman Cup in Perth, where the round robin format will help them hone their awesome games in time for an assault at Melbourne Park, where they duelled in last year's final.

With Serena unable to lock in what looked like a long stay at #1, the accolade of year end #1was up for grabs last week in the WTA Championships in Doha. An unbeaten run by Vera Zvonareva, hitherto arguably less well known than the Sharapovas, Safinas, Dementievas, Kuznetsovas and co, would have seen her snatch #1, after a break out year which landed her in two Slam finals.

It was not to be. A young Dane, Caroline Wozniacki, without appearing in a Grand Slam final in 2010, stepped up to the plate with a series of excellent performances on the WTA Tour to be crowned year end world #1. This brought unprecedented joy to a nation which for many decades had really only experienced tennis through the reflected glory of famous Swedes from over the Oresund Bridge.

So if you can interpret how it will all play out at the Australian Open, on this the first Tuesday in November, I wished I'd jumped on your tip in the Cup as you're a better judge than me!