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This year’s US Open women’s draw may well be more open than usual due to the absence of Serena Williams, but not having the talented world number one around is certain to remove some of the gloss for whoever is able to win this year’s final Grand Slam.

With Serena having caused uproar amongst those who analyse tennis odds with her behaviour at last year’s tournament, an event that she will be keen to forget following her foul mouthed tirade against officials at the match that resulted in her defeat in the semi-finals against eventual champion Kim Clijsters, she did well to bounce back to top form earlier this year.

Serena won both the Australian Open and LTA Championship at Wimbledon, so any participation at the US Open was expected to result in her picking up her third Grand Slam of an already hugely successful year.

Despite her triumphs this year, success by WTA No. 2 Caroline Wozniacki or WTA No. 5 Jelena Jankovic would see either of these competitors unseat Williams as the new world number one.

With Serena not at the Championship, Wozniacki is the number one seed and started the tournament by dropping only two games in her opening match, showing the kind of form that she will need to continue if she wants to pick up her first Grand Slam title of the year.

With the US Open now wide open, those who are going to place a tennis bet should note that the eventual winner will face a huge challenge if they are to carry over their success at the Grand Slam into the first event in 2011, the Australian Open, an event in which Williams is likely to want to reassert her dominance of the women’s game.

Regards,

Adwait Kulkarni