The Biggest Takeaways from the 2015 Australian Open for Top Women's Tennis Stars
The women's Australian Open had shocks, outrage and another piece of significant history made. For tennis' top stars, there was no shortage of talking points or moments to take away.
Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova contested a Grand Slam final that was set up for a mouthwatering third set before the Russian blinked first.
Agnieszka Radwanska was playing her first Grand Slam under the guidance of Martina Navratilova, while Eugenie Bouchard's promising career took another positive turn, despite a quarter-final exit.
The following slides will analyse four of the game's top players' tournaments, assessing what's to be proven and what can be put into practice for the following year.
Eugenie Bouchard
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A fallen semi-finalist this time last year, Eugenie Bouchard was within a tennis racket's length from what those on the route to success and status call "arriving."
She lost to eventual champion Li Na that day, but she was beaten by this year's runner-up as she found her route to a second Slam final blocked prematurely.
Reaching the quarter-final stage is an achievement in itself. Yet it's not quite the blueprint that Bouchard's horde of sponsors and admirers had in mind following her scintillating form at the Slams in 2014.
The weight of being an energetic and competitive talent can be a burden. If Bouchard takes anything from this tournament, it's that not equaling last year's feat or going one better is not categorical failure.
This is no regression. It's just another lesson to keep with the one Petra Kvitova gave her at Wimbledon last year and the experience of playing in the season-ending finals.
If truth be told, a bit more experience is perhaps the only attribute Bouchard lacks, with Simon Briggs of The Telegraph writing about her "phenomenal physical conditioning and her icy disregard for her rivals."
Another lesson in what is required to be Serena Williams' potential successor might not do any harm.
Serena Williams
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Even the world No. 1 can take something away from a tournament in which she sealed back-to-back Grand Slams.
It's just that the lessons she's learned corroborate what she and the rest of the field already knew.
Her rivalry with Maria Sharapova remains as it always has been: laden with a media-infused desperation for a genuine clash of two warriors. Of course, given they are No. 1 and 2 respectively, their matches should be in that mould.
Christopher Clarey poignantly wrote for the New York Times that their clashes have tended to be "a vehicle for Williams' greatness." This particular vehicle keeps on running.
Despite a close matchup against Madison Keys in the all-American semi-final and Sharapova in the final, Williams found a way to force her way through. If her serve had been played on grass, there might have been, to borrow a golfing term, a few plugged lies.
If Williams can take anything of substance from yesterday's final, it is that her next target of 22 Slams is still well within her reach.
Agnieszka Radwanska
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If there's a note of caution to be heeded about taking on what's been termed a "super coach," then Agnieszka Radwanska's tournament was it.
Things don't change overnight, and that proved to be the case for Radwanska, even with 18-time Slam winner Martina Navratilova in her corner.
She might have been forgiven for thinking Navratilova had the magic touch after she failed to drop a set in her first three matches. That she also managed to bagel each of her opponents up until her fourth-round defeat had her seeming re-energised.
However, the Pole was eventually beaten in three sets by Venus Williams. That she didn't make it beyond the Round of 16 in a Slam last year, except in Melbourne, perhaps shows that there is a place for Navratilova given another early exit this year.
That might be the biggest takeaway of all.
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Maria Sharapova
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Maria Sharapova had that sinking feeling again on Saturday as Serena Williams settled their second-set tiebreak with a thunderous serve.
It was another defeat to the world No. 1 as she missed out on the opportunity to claim her sixth Slam and her first title in Melbourne since 2008.
The Russian must go back to the drawing board for ways to beat Williams for only the third time. Perhaps stealing Alize Cornet's homework sheet might do her a favour; Cornet beat Williams three times last year.
As important as it is that Sharapova's career doesn't become defined by her failure to beat her nearest rival, she can take positives from her tournament.
She dropped just one set before facing Williams; not a bad rhythm to be in heading into the rest of the hard-court events. That she came close to forcing a third set should also be taken into account.
The miserable run against Williams continues, but there were plenty of signs that another Slam could be heading her way this year.
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