Wimbledon Women's Preview: 3 things you need to know

Grab your best whites: Wimbledon is upon us.

Tennis' third major, at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in London, begins Monday and runs through July 12.

Here are three things you need to know about the women's tournament:

Serena's quest for a calendar Slam

Here's the deal: You can't pick anyone but Serena Williams to win this tournament. Sorry.

Forget about the planet - she's the best women's player in the galaxy. She's won the last three Grand Slams, and allow The Wall Street Journal's Jason Gay to remind you of what Williams did in Paris:

More important, I believe in Serena Williams. How do you not believe in Williams after what we just witnessed at the French? She spent half of the tournament with one foot out of the tournament. She lost the first set of her matches in the second round, third round, fourth round, and the semifinals. It was almost like she was spotting her opponents an opening set, as if it were an experiment, to see if she could roar right back.

She did roar back, of course, losing the second set in the final, and the first two games of the deciding third set. But she won - that's all that matters, that's all she does - and, in the process, became the first woman in 14 years to win the Australian Open and French Open back to back.

Williams has her "Serena Slam" - titles at the French Open, Wimbledon, and U.S. Open in 2002, followed by the Australian Open to start 2003 - but now she's after a calendar Slam, and it's in sight. And we know what she's capable of in London, having won Wimbledon five times.

With Williams, it's hard not to repeat yourself: she's after Slam title No. 21, is 20-4 in Grand Slam finals, is an absurd 7-0 in her last seven Slam finals dating back to 2012, and an unfathomable 13-1 in her last 14 Slam finals going back to August 2008. She's 33, turning 34 in late September. She won the French Open at, what, 75 percent? She shouldn't be doing this. It's almost against the laws of physics.

As Gay points out in his column, a calendar Slam - last achieved in 1988 by Steffi Graf - is extremely difficult to accomplish. But, face it: if anyone can do it, it's Serena.

Genie's nightmare

Eugenie Bouchard made the Wimbledon final last year. Seriously. It happened. It was the culmination of her dream-like rise, and it's all turned to a nightmare since.

But in your darkest hours, you always have your sense of humor. And Genie's still got hers:

Heading into Paris, we thought a Slam would cure Bouchard's woes. We were dead wrong. At Wimbledon, it's not about her winning the tournament - she's seeded 12th. It's about her getting out of the first round.

Bouchard remains one of the most talked-about players on the WTA Tour - for better or worse. But forget about her "VERY daring gown," because it's the numbers that matter: she's won eight of 23 matches in 2015, and lost 10 of her past 12. Something's got to give. It's possible Bouchard isn't as good as she played in 2014, but there's no way she's as bad as she is in 2015.

Tennis is a mentally taxing, lonely sport. Less so when the going's good. So it's likely safe to say Bouchard's never felt more alone on the court in her life, and that's why, in a way, it's hard to look away.

Her advice to herself is simple, and we'll be watching with interest to see whether it works: "Just don't think."

The field

No. 3 Simona Halep, after losing in the second round at Roland Garros, did something crazy: she didn't play tennis for five days. Citing mental fatigue more than anything, she's well-rested heading into Wimbledon, and she was a semifinalist last year at the grass tourney. Don't sleep on Simona ...

Petra Kvitova, seeded second, won the tournament last year, but you wouldn't know it based on all the talk coming in. She's 24-7 this year, with two titles. An illness kept her out of the Eastbourne tuneup, so she'll be watched a little more intensely as the tournament begins ...

Maria Sharapova's ranked fourth at Wimbledon, and while she's fallen from her perch - if you can call it that - behind Williams, she's 29-6 in 2015 with two titles. But a second Wimbledon title doesn't seem like it's in the cards, considering it's been 11 years since she won it the first time.

Then there are the others: Ana Ivanovic surprised everyone with a Roland Garros semifinals run; Angelique Kerber's won 30 matches and three Premier events this year; Timea Bacsinszky's semis run in Paris was even more shocking than Ivanovic's; and here comes 18-year-old Belinda Bencic, winning her first title on tour at Eastbourne.

As always, there are a number of storylines to follow, and stay tuned to theScore app, as we'll bring you live, mobile coverage of the tournament beginning Monday.