Serena Williams will most likely win the US Open when it gets underway at Flushing Meadow in the early hours of Tuesday morning, Australian time.

That's how it is with Serena. When she turns up to an event and decides she wants to win it, she invariably does. She plays the rest of the women's tennis circuit on a break.

This US Open will be her second Grand Slam of the year. She lost to Marian Bartoli in the fourth round at Wimbledon, in what was her first major event for nearly a year. She stepped on some broken glass in Germany last July and the complications from that sidelined her for a considerable period of time. Her ranking tumbled to 175 but the thing about Williams is that when she cranked up her comeback, nobody could really lay a love on her.

TAB Sportsbet are easily convinced. They have her at $2.75 favourite, with Maria Sharapova next at $7 and it is hard to see who else might challenge. Petra Kvitova won Wimbledon but hasn't done much since, Kim Clijsters is injured, while Caroline Wozniacki has managed the wonderful feat - pretty unique to women's tennis we might add - of holding on to the no.1 ranking in the game without ever having won a Grand Slam.

The real no.1 is Serena Williams and will be for as long as she chooses to play at the highest level.

Over on the men's side, it is clearly a race in three. But both Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic have been injured, while Roger Federer is finally facing mortality.

Nadal has lost all five matches with Djokovic in 2011. Blisters on his feet and burns on his fingers after touching a hot plate at a restaurant (true story!) have hindered his warm up for Flushing Meadow, while Djokovic, who has lost just two matches this year, has been bothered by a plain, old shoulder injury.

Federer is now 30, and hasn't won a Slam since last year's Australian Open. In tennis terms, that is nearly an eternity ago. Interestingly, there is a bit of talk that this could be a bit like Pete Sampras in 2002, when he delayed his career twilight for a bit by beating Andre Agassi one last time to win the US Open. All things considered, Nadal and Djokovic have gone past Federer, but if they're below their best for any reason, the tournament is Federer's for the taking.

Andy Murray rounds out the top four in men's tennis, but the gap between the top three and Murray is massive.

Of the Australians, we won't have Lleyton Hewitt to fret over for a round or two. His body is just about shot and he won't be suiting up for what would have been the 10th anniversary of his 2001 triumph. Sam Stosur is the ninth seed in the women's draw, but we can't help but think that her chance at Grand Slam glory came and went during last year's French Open final.