[Chrissie-fan]

I don't think superstition has anything to do with it. If you take Serena out of the equation Maria has a good chance of winning another major next year. But if Serena plays at the same level that she did from Wimbledon onwards this year it reduces everyone else's chance of winning one by 50 or more percent. Not that it would make it impossible for Maria (or Vika for that matter) to win one, but the odds would drop dramatically. Even so, on clay she could possibly be a match even for Serena, so I still think that the FO is her best bet. But there is of course no guarantee that the 2013 Serena WILL be as great as the 2012 one, and as always there will be surprises in terms of certain people doing better than we now expect and others worse.