Maria Sharapova is set to resume her reign at Wimbledon but three former winners and two battling Belgians stand in the way. The Siberian slugger took the tennis world by storm last year when she won as an 18-year-old pulverising Serena Williams with her heavy ground strokes in the final.
And that opened the doors to fame, fortune and stardom for the statuesque Sharapova who in the space of a year has become the third biggest earner in women's sport after Serena and Swedish golfer Anika Sorenstam.
She is also ranked second in the world and is on the cusp of becoming the first Russian woman to top the rankings.
But to dislodge Lindsay Davenport, she will likely have to win again at the All England Club on the grass courts that she says are her best surface.
Like last year, Sharapova followed up a disappointing French Open by winning on grass at Birmingham and despite a slight thigh strain and a head cold, she is happy with her preparations.
"I haven't been playing my best tennis but I still managed to get through and I felt really comfortable as the matches went on," she said after defeating Jelena Jankovic in the Birmingham final, her 17th win in a row on grass.
"Having to battle out some tough matches and not feeling your best but still managing to win the tournament is a great feeling. I'm going to take that experience and confidence into Wimbledon."
Asked who her main challengers would be, "the Belgian girls" is the first thing that springs to Sharapova's mind. Both Justine Henin-Hardenne and Kim Clijsters had nightmare 2004s, the former sidelined with an energy-sapping virus and the former with painful tendonitis in her wrist.
But both have rebounded in fine style, Henin-Hardenne winning the French Open in Paris and Clijsters rocketing back up the rankings with back-to-back tier one titles - in Indian Wells and Miami.
Henin-Hardenne, still wary of the virus returning, opted to rest for two weeks after winning in Paris and could be vulnerable early on.
But she defends her decision not to play at Eastbourne this week.
"I was sad to make that decision, but I had to take it if I wanted to be ready for Wimbledon," she said.
"It was clearm cut. I had to rest my injury (lower back) for at least 10 days and my body was a little tired after I won the French Open."
For Clijsters, the challenge is to put behind her the collapse that saw her surrender a big lead to Lindsay Davenport in the fourth round at the French Open.
Prior to that she had looked imperious despite a heavy strapping on her right knee, which she twisted doing her trademark splits in a tournament in Berlin.
"I want to play well at Wimbledon, but I'm not consistent yet," she said.
"What happened against Lindsay in Paris is a mystery to me. I was in command and it all went off somewhere."
The three former winners apart from Sharapova in the tournament are all American.
Both the Williams sisters will come into Wimbledon with question marks against their names.
Serena, Wimbledon winner in 2002 and 2003, has not played because of an ankle injury since losing in straight sets to Italy's Francesca Schiavone in Rome in mid-May.
But she showed with her gutsy title triumph in the Australian Open in January that although she does not intimidate opponents the way she used to, she is still a fierce and athletic competitor.
For big sister Venus, the horizon looks gloomier, she sulkily departed from the French Open after being outplayed by 15-year-old Bulgarian Sesil Karatantcheva and the Wimbledon winner in 2000 and 2001 looks something of a spent force.
That leaves the 1999 champion and current World No 1 Lindsay Davenport, who at 29-year-old may be playing for the last time at the All-England club.
Davenport was thrashed by France's Mary Pierce in the French Open quarter-finals, but her game is much better suited to grass and she could be a major threat once again.
Among the likeliest of the outsiders are born-again Pierce, compatriot Amelie Mauresmo who reached the semi-finals last year and US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia.