US Open Women's Preview: Serena Williams' quest for a calendar Grand Slam

Serena Williams is on the precipice of more tennis history.

The US Open begins Monday in Flushing Meadows, and Williams is the talk of New York. She's the best women's player on the planet - it isn't even close - and she's looking to complete a calendar Grand Slam, a feat not accomplished since Steffi Graf did it in 1988. We're talking generational, perhaps once-in-a-lifetime talent.

Related: US Open Men's Preview: 3 things you need to know

There's more: A victory for Williams will be her fourth straight US Open title and seventh overall, and will give her 22 major titles, tying her with Graf for most in the Open era. It will also be her fifth straight Grand Slam victory. She's 48-2 this year and will be 34 on Sept. 26.

There's a lot on the line. But what sets Williams apart is her unmatched ability to deal with the pressure.

Grantland's Brian Phillips put it perfectly:

To accomplish all this in one tournament, as Serena is trying to do, would be - but it is impossible to say what it would be. There is nothing to compare it to, because no one has ever done anything quite like it before.

This is a moment. ...

This is a moment because it is a culmination for Serena’s career, and this is a moment because it is a culmination for what Serena’s career represents. If she wins this tournament, the case that she is not the greatest player in the history of women’s tennis more or less evaporates, even for the few holdouts still clinging to it. Graf was amazing. Navratilova was incredible. But to many people it has been obvious for a long time now that Serena is an evolutionary advance. ...

This is a moment because Serena Williams is everything she is: one of the best athletes in the history of sports, a phenomenally talented black woman, and her own irreducible self.

Williams won her first US Open in 1999, at 17. She dominated women's tennis in the early 2000s. Perhaps most amazingly, she's won eight Grand Slams since turning 30, making this tournament and what's at stake all the more unlikely.

She's lost 11 opening sets this season, only to come back and win 10 of those matches, including all four such instances at the French Open. She was two points from being eliminated at Wimbledon in the third round. As always with Williams, it's not simply that she's winning, but how she's doing it.

The Path to History

Here are the career records of those players who could oppose Williams over the next two weeks, from the early rounds all the way to the final:

Williams' records against the other top-ranked women in the world - Halep, Sharapova, Wozniacki, Kvitova, Safarova, Ivanovic, Pliskova, and Suarez Navarro - is 58-6. Who is going to beat her?

There are other storylines to follow, of course. Halep has replaced Sharapova as the runner-up to Williams in the rankings, and she's had a quietly spectacular season, winning 40 of 51 matches and three titles. And make no mistake: she wants to win by beating Williams, and will be focusing on her own game to make it happen:

In Cincinnati I didn't believe enough I could beat her and win the match. I have to improve this. Next time I have to not think about I'm playing Serena and concentrate on winning.

Sharapova's lost 17 straight to Williams, and is dealing with a leg injury; Wozniacki and Azarenka are battling leg injuries of their own; Angelique Kerber has quietly won four titles this year, second-most on tour, but it's been over a year since she made the second week of a major; and the only reason anyone is talking about Eugenie Bouchard, now ranked 25th, is because she's working with Jimmy Connors. It will, in all likelihood, be up to Halep to end Williams' magical 2015 run.

Serena, Serena, Serena

In the end, this tournament is about one person. Sports Illustrated said it best: "The player with the best chance of beating Serena Williams is Serena Williams."

It's going to be the most exciting and compelling two weeks the tennis universe has seen in years. The stakes have never been higher. There's simply never been anyone like Serena Williams, and there probably never will be again.

So enjoy what you're about to watch. Enjoy the moment.