It's easy to forget about them in the shining glow that Serena Williams sends off: the two-time defending Australian Open champ and the woman who reached three Grand Slam finals last year.

	Serena Williams has the confidence to set high goals for 2003.

As the Australian Open began late Sunday, No. 2 seed Venus Williams -- now that Jennifer Capriati crashed out with a shocking first-round loss -- is probably the only player who can stop Serena on her best days. And Serena hasn't had an off-day during a Grand Slam event, in which she's played, in over a year.

Capriati, who enjoyed an incredible comeback in 2001, hasn't won a title of any kind since last year's Australian Open. She rallied to win last season's Aussie final against Martina Hingis -- finding a store of energy during a heat break while Hingis continued to wilt. But that was it for the year. She -- and everybody else -- ran into a Williams wall.

While Capriati struggled, Serena, saying she had grown tired of losing, found her stride to pull away from her sister Venus to have a record-setting year. In all of 2002, Serena Williams lost six times. Once was a retirement due to injury. None of those losses were to Capriati, who lost three semifinals and two finals to Serena last season. Serena's loss to Kim Clijsters in the season-ending final, however, was clearly as a result of a hard-fought semifinal with Capriati.

When she believes in herself and relies on her instincts, Capriati is tough to beat. But last year, she seemed to stop believing in herself. She began tinkering with her serve, adjusting her footwork and motion, although the Capriati contingent refused to discuss the obvious changes.

While it would be tough to ever describe Venus as lacking confidence, at the end of last year, after not winning any Grand Slam, she definitely looked tired -- and beaten.

"I want another break," Venus said after taking a three-week layoff only to lose in Moscow. "It's nice to be at home … Right now I think it's my problem that I need to be away and do other things in my life."

Although Venus took some time off to recover, she left the WTA Championships early and injured. She has yet to make an appearance in Australia this year. She's never won the Grand Slam there, and it remains to be seen if she has figured out a way to once again beat her little sister.

There are other strong players in contention: Lindsay Davenport, Clijsters and fellow Belgian Justine Henin-Hardenne. Out with injuries are seeded players Martina Hingis, who lost the past three finals in Melbourne, Amelie Mauresmo and Jelena Dokic.

After recovering from knee surgery last year, Davenport struggled to find her rhythm. Appearing to lack confidence as much as timing, she fell to Venus in New Haven. Then at the U.S. Open lost to Serena in the semifinals in straight sets.

Clijsters, who says she's been working to improve with boyfriend and No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt, has the flexibility to challenge Serena, but Clijsters has yet to win a Grand Slam event. Clijsters won the season-ender by taking advantage of Serena's fatigue, but it remains to be seen how she'll do against an at-her-best Serena. Henin-Hardenne, who recently married, simply seemed worn out at the year-end tournament.

That leaves Serena, who is coming off the high she gained from winning three Grand Slam titles in a row last year. She told ESPN early in 2002 that she wanted to become the No. 1 player, and that's how she ended the year. This season, she says she wants to be perfect: an undefeated season.

"There are a lot of tough players, so I am going to try my best and whatever happens, happens," Serena said last week. "I just try to set myself goals."

Even if she improves her performance by half, that means she'll only lose three matches this year. But first, since she missed last year with an injury, there's the Australian Open to conquer.

"My main dream now is the Australian Open," she said. "I've never been able to win here but I would like to try. Let's just see what happens."

What could happen -- as long as she's healthy and focused -- is that she'll complete her "Serena Slam" in January to start off a possibly Grand year.

Cynthia Faulkner is the tennis editor at ESPN.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report.