PARIS — So much has changed for Serena Williams since the last time she arrived at Roland Garros to play in a French Open.
Oh, sure, the skills and speed were there a year ago, and they are there now. Same with the power and the shotmaking.
But now she's entered a new realm, having won four straight majors, a self-styled "Serena Slam." She claimed the No. 1 ranking from her older sister. She sparked talk of an undefeated season and had some wondering whether she might need to pull a Sorenstam and play against men to find a true challenge.
And that's just on the court. Away from it, too, Williams fully emerged from Venus' shadow, dabbling in acting and modeling, finding her adult voice.
"The French Open," Williams said, "was the beginning of the big story."
This is not to say everything in the past 12 months went as she would have wanted. Her parents completed their divorce; a stalker followed her around the world and was arrested at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open.
There are added demands on her time, extra scrutiny from the media.
She seems to be handling it all as well as anyone could at 21.
"I'm more mature. I've experienced a lot more in life, on and off the court," Williams said. "I'm all-around an older person. I don't make the same mistake twice — that goes in tennis or in life."
When play starts at the French Open on Monday, Williams will have a chance to win a fifth straight major title, something last accomplished by Steffi Graf in 1988-89. Williams also could take the second step toward a calendar-year Grand Slam.
Suddenly, however, other players might truly believe that another all-Williams Grand Slam final isn't such a sure thing. After opening 2003 with 21 straight victories, Serena lost twice — gasp! — in about a month: against Justine Henin-Hardenne in Charleston, S.C., and against Amelie Mauresmo in Rome.
"She can be frustrated," Henin-Hardenne said after her upset. "I think it's good for the other players that we can see that."
Mauresmo, for her part, was emboldened enough to offer a scouting report on Serena: Play longer points.
Venus, meanwhile, fell to No. 3 in the rankings last month. And May 4, she quit during a match against Mauresmo with a stomach muscle injury.
"Everybody's playing better these days," Serena said. "We've definitely raised the bar."
Both statements are true. The list of challengers includes Mauresmo, a semifinalist at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open last year; Henin-Hardenne, the 2001 French Open runner-up; Kim Clijsters, who supplanted Venus at No. 2 and has won the same number of tournament this year as Serena (three); and 2001 champion Jennifer Capriati.
Then again, of that group, only Capriati has won a major.
The men's tournament is far more wide open. Plenty of players could make a strong case that they'll win, from top-ranked Lleyton Hewitt, to eight-time Grand Slam champion Andre Agassi, to 2002 finalist Juan Carlos Ferrero, to 1998 champ Carlos Moya, to three-time winner Gustavo Kuerten, to fifth-seeded Roger Federer, to any of a number of relatively anonymous players who happen to be particularly adept on red clay.
As Agassi's coach, Darren Cahill, put it: "Andre is one of the favorites, along with guys like Hewitt, Ferrero, Moya and Federer. Unlike the other Grand Slams, the French Open presents an opportunity for a lot of people to win."
For the most part, it seems as though Serena Williams can't lose.
She made a guest appearance on the ABC sitcom "My Wife and Kids," had photos in Sports Illustrated's swimsuit issue, and counts Puma, Avon, McDonald's and Close-Up toothpaste among her sponsorship deals.
While she's quick to say, "Somebody had to be Serena Williams, and I'm glad it was me," coming of age in the spotlight isn't always easy.
In March, Williams was asked at the end of a postmatch news conference about anti-French sentiment in the United States, related to the war in Iraq. Speaking in a mock French accent, she said: "Well, we don't want to play in the war. We want to make clothes." Dropping the accent, she added, "I don't want a war either."
Williams later apologized. "I feel really, really, really terrible, because the French Open was my steppingstone, and they were so supportive," she said recently.
At least the episode didn't make her shy about expressing opinions. One example: Asked about difference in pay at some tournaments (the French Open will give the male champion about $990,000, the female champion about $965,000), Williams didn't hesitate.
"I would never say that I, as a woman, do not deserve the same thing as a man. I think I do," she said. "We should have equal prize money, especially nowadays that people are really focusing more on women's tennis, as opposed to men's tennis."
That's in large part thanks to the Williams family.
What remains to be seen is how long Serena and Venus will stay at the forefront, and whether they will keep swapping the top spot. Don't forget, Venus is the one who collected two straight titles at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open before Serena's run.
And Venus has, after all, played in four consecutive Grand Slam finals.
"Is this going to be a pingpong match, going back and forth, the sisters pushing each other year after year?" asks Mary Carillo, part of NBC's announcing team.
"The main measure of the rivalry is: What is Venus going to do to get back to No. 1? Serena digs it, she wants to be No. 1, she wants all the pressures that come with that, she wants all the pleasures that come with that."