It’s no secret that Serena Williams is the best of her generation.

At 13 Grand Slams and counting, almost the sum of the other greats of her generation, sister Venus and Belgian rival Justine Henin, Serena has nothing left to prove.

The best serve ever in tennis, arguably the toughest competitor at the majors, and arguably the strongest of all mentally.

The only things really missing from Serena’s list of accolades are a longer list of regular WTA Titles and a longer span of weeks at world No. 1, which comes with the complete and utter dedication of her body and mind to tennis, something she, sister Venus, Kim Clijsters and to an extent, Justine Henin have all turned their backs on.

Which leaves us with the question.

No matter who wins the Australian Open, will there be an asterisk over their win, denoting that defending champ and five-time winner, and arguably still the world’s best player, Serena Williams, was missing?

I think there will.

As a five-time winner, she carries clout in Melbourne that nobody else has on the tour, after all, Henin and Maria Sharapova are the only active players to have an Australian Open Championship to their name, and Henin’s was on the old Rebound Ace surface.

She is twice the defending champ.

And 2011 is also an odd year; four of Serena’s five Australian Opens came during odd years, only breaking the even-year duck last year.

There’s also the fact that some of her best performances have come at the Australian open.

Her demolition of Maria Sharapova in 2007 is still one of the most powerful displays of tennis we have ever seen.

She humiliated Dinara Safina at the same stage in 2009, and in 2003, she fought back from a 5-1 deficit with three match points.

Then there are her comebacks against Maria in ’05, saving match points yet again, and her spirited comebacks against Nadia Petrova, Shahar Peer and Victoria Azarenka.

When it comes to competitiveness, no one beats Serena.

And in case we forgot, she is the greatest of her generation, bar none.

So be it Kim or Justine who win the title.

Or Vera Zvonareva and Caroline Wozniacki.

Or even sister Venus.

There will always be an asterisk over this Australian Open Championship.