Baby talk

Williams, who hasn't played since her Australian Open win, married Reddit founder Alexis Ohanian in November, two months after the birth of the couple's first child, daughter Alexis Olympia.

In Williams' absence, a power vacuum in the women's game opened up as Jelena Ostapenko and Sloane Stephens became two of the most unlikeliest champions at the Slams.

Ostapenko, a 100-1 outsider, beat Simona Halep in the French Open final to become Latvia's first ever Grand Slam champion, the 20-year-old claiming her first career title in the process.

At Flushing Meadows, Stephens won an all-American US Open final against Madison Keys, just six weeks after seeing her world ranking slip to 957. In between, Garbine Muguruza won a second major at Wimbledon.

Muguruza was one of five women - Williams, Halep, Angelique Kerber and Karolina Pliskova were the others - to have a spell at world No 1.

Halep was to end 2017 on top but the Romanian, who has yet to win a major, faces a challenge to stay there next year especially with Maria Sharapova and Victoria Azarenka lurking.

Five-time Slam winner Sharapova returned from a 15-month doping ban in April and ended the year ranked 59.

Azarenka, a two-time Australian Open champion, only played two events in 2017 after taking time away to give birth to a son.

Her late-season plans were thwarted by a lengthy custody battle over the youngster.

Agence France - presse