Just a few days before the announcement of the women’s draw at the 2009 Australian Open, a certain family from Compton, Calif., has to be wondering if another cruel piece of tennis punishment will ruin a fortnight in Melbourne.

The past two Grand Slam seasons have been slightly disappointing for women’s tennis fans, because final-level matches have occurred far too prematurely in the sport’s biggest events. In 2007, Justine Henin and Serena Williams had to stare down each other in three quarterfinals, at the French Open, Wimbledon, and the U.S. Open. In two of those three cases, the winner of the match (Henin) went on to take the tournament.

Last year, Henin–the reigning world No. 1 in the months before her eventual retirement from the game–had to play Maria Sharapova in the Australian Open quarterfinals. Sharapova won that “final within a quarterfinal” and, unsurprisingly, won the whole event a few days later. In September at the U.S. Open, the Williams sisters–Venus and Serena–had to play in the quarterfinals, despite the fact that they lorded themselves over the rest of the women’s field with their superior athleticism and defense. The all-Williams match under the lights in New York attracted the most buzz of any women’s match during those two weeks in the media capital of the world. It was a shame that the sport’s two best players (due to Sharapova’s injury problems and Henin’s absence from the sport) had to do battle in the round of eight, but the WTA rankings system–and its emphasis on year-round results–prevented the celebrated sisters from getting the protected seeds that would have enabled them to inherit different sections of the draw.

It’s hard to deny that in the past two years, far too many women’s grand slams have seen their best and most hyped matches occur in the quarterfinal round, and not the championship round. This year, we could see the bad luck of the draw in action once again.

Without any draw sheets to examine (not until the end of this week), the Williams sisters are clearly the favorites Down Under. The 2009 Australian Open is theirs for the taking–if Serena or Venus want it, one of them will have it. Everyone else in the women’s field, with the possible exception of world No. 3 Dinara Safina, is saddled with too many questions.

Maria Sharapova isn’t even able to defend her 2008 championship, due to a persistent shoulder injury. Ana Ivanovic reached last year’s final in Melbourne Park, but a thumb injury robbed her of consistency and confidence over the past several months. The French Open trophy-holder might be able to play her way back into form, but the Serb’s youthfulness is likely to work against her in a late-round war against a high-caliber opponent. The other half of the Serbian “Vitches,” Jelena Jankovic, has been stymied by recent stomach ailments, and shows signs of lacking the fitness she’ll need to endure the typically brutal heat of an Australian summer. The more one studies the top women’s contenders, the more one finds few convincing ways to counter any claims of a Williams victory march.

The only thing standing in the way of an all-Williams final, then, could very well be the draw itself.

Serena enters this event with a No. 2 ranking, while Venus stands at No. 6. Since Grand Slam draws do not have the locked-in seeding system of an American sports tournament (in which the No. 1 seed plays the No. 8 seed in the quarterfinals, 2 plays 7, 3 plays 6, and 4 plays 5, no matter what), it is possible that another all-Williams quarterfinal could be created. The likes of Safina, the Vitches, and world No. 4 Elena Dementieva will all be hoping that the Williamses will be paired in a quarterfinal, clearing the way for a path to the final in another section of the bracket.

To put a finer point on this issue, it bears mentioning that the Williams sisters–whose first meetings in slam finals, several years ago, were often shrouded in controversy because of their uneven level of play–have put to rest the tired and unconvincing notion that they somehow gamed or fixed their matches.

In the early part of this decade, the idea of playing a Grand Slam final against “Sis” proved to be an understandably paralyzing and mentally wrenching prospect for Venus and Serena. Now, the two women–far more mature and clearly comfortable in their own skin–have seemingly come to a place of acceptance when on-court battles are concerned. The sisters fought through untimely and strong wind gusts to play a low-error Wimbledon final, won by Venus in straight sets. The match might not have been spectacular in the fullest sense of the term, but in light of the awful tennis conditions, the sisters positively sparkled. No two women could have produced a match of such quality under such considerable pressure, and in the face of weather variables that could have easily produced an unending series of shanks and whiffs.

Two months later in New York, the Williamses once again provided unmatched theater and world-class shotmaking in friendlier weather conditions. Venus accumulated 10 set points in the match, but lost them all. Serena displayed her legendary willpower and refused to concede anything. Her unending hustle forced Venus to tighten up to an ever-so-slight extent on a number of set points. Though playing catch-up throughout the match’s two sets, Serena made Venus feel like the more burdened player in critical situations, and that made all the difference in a pair of tiebreakers that both went to tennis’s equivalent of overtime (more than 12 total points). The 7-6 (6), 7-6 (7) victory propelled Serena to her first U.S. Open title since 2002. It also showed that even in defeat, Venus–despite her No. 6 ranking–stands alongside her sister at the top of women’s tennis.

The 2009 Australian Open belongs to the Williams sisters if they want it. Only the draw can turn the prospect of pleasure into Grand Slam punishment for the siblings who rule their sport.