Tranquility: The force that honed Venus?
A serene Serena is bad news for her rivals, who have already conceded her world ranking of three is scandalously inaccurate and likely to be corrected in short time.
World number one Victoria Azarenka, the defending Australian Open champion, came close to upsetting Williams in the tense US Open final, but the Belarusian finished the year 0-5 against the American.
Curiously, Azarenka dodged a rematch in the Brisbane semi-final against Williams last week, blaming a toe infection caused by a bad pedicure.
World number two Maria Sharapova completed a career Grand Slam with victory at the French Open, but lost all three of her encounters to Williams last year, including a stinging 6-0 6-1 loss for the Olympic singles gold at London.
“It’s surprising to win two Grand Slams, the Olympics, Madrid and the Championships and to be number three,” Mouratoglou said after Williams won in Istanbul.
“If there is a bug somewhere (in the rankings system), someone has to find it.”
Williams can fix it with her own racquet by winning a sixth Australian Open title, a feat achieved only by Australia’s Margaret Court in the modern era.
That would see her succeed compatriot Chris Evert as the oldest world number one in women’s tennis – a nice, albeit sobering idea for Williams.
“I’m really boring now,” Williams said in Brisbane.
“I used to be fun. I could be the oldest number one.
“I don’t know how that goes with the funnest.” –Reuters