The decision of Hingis, her path smoothed by an eagerlyoffered wild card to one of its all-time favourites at the year's first Grand Slam, to give tennis another go at the age of 25 injects considerable spice to the women's event.

Hingis can be nothing other than popular in Melbourne, where she figured in six straight finals between 1997 and 2002, winning the first three. But whether the style that landed five Grand Slams and 35 other singles titles remains relevant is the question intriguing many beside Hingis herself.

The ability to play smart tennis and move accordingly was what carried her to number one. What drove her out of the game in 2002 was, ostensibly, persistent foot problems but there was no denying the allied effect on her morale of the cannonball stuff dished out by the Williams sisters.

Since then the women's game has become faster and more powerful even when practiced by someone of similar stature like Justine Henin-Hardenne. This was starkly shown in Sydney last week when Henin, herself plagued by injury since winning the French Open last June, set Hingis packing in straight sets.

Despite the fine words about a new challenge, the inference is that Hingis has come back because she was bored by a life of leisure and luxury. Clearly, the whiff of battle proved irresistible to someone who considers herself good enough to get back to the top.

Though the next fortnight will not, of course, provide definitive proof, Hingis will certainly be offered a sharp image of what lies in store.

She starts with an eminently winnable outing against the Russian 30th seed, Vera Zvonareva, before a possible third-round clash with Mary Pierce, the 1995 Australian champion who knows a thing or two herself about comebacks.

Failure to get past Zvonareva would be a setback, while defeat by the resurgent Pierce would not, at least at this stage. However, with the Aussie audience roaring her along, swatting aside Pierce would tell the world the Swiss Miss is back for real.

The next peak for Hingis should be a quarter-final against the second seed, Kim Clijsters, always providing the hip injury afflicting the Belgian has cleared up. Quietly crossing his fingers, the tournament's chief executive Paul McNamee said: "Kim says she is going to play, so I believe her.'' The hope is for someone like Clijsters, the US Open champion, or Henin to disrupt the US domination.

Since Hingis lost her title to Lindsay Davenport in 2000 the crown has lodged with Americans in four years out of five.

Davenport comes in as top seed but as she closes in on her 30th birthday, stamina . . .never a strong point . . . could be a decisive factor, as it was in her astonishing collapse to Serena in last year's final.

Though they have been lying low of late, nursing various ailments and doing the myriad things they enjoy, the Williams girls pose a clear threat to the ambitions of the other top women. Like her sister, Venus holds a Grand Slam . . . the biggest of them all, Wimbledon . . . by having outlasted Davenport in the final, and Davenport's seeding may survive no further than a quarter-final in Melbourne against either Venus or Henin.

Maria Sharapova, the opponent Hingis would love to play most on the comeback trail (''I want to see what she's got'') and the best of nine Russians to be seeded, would need to eliminate Serena in the fourth round and then either Venus, Davenport or Henin to set up a confrontation with Hingis.

It would be in the final, which just goes to show Hingis is already thinking big again.

AUSTRALIAN OPEN 16 January . . . 29 January Live, Eurosport, daily