Do you guys remember Nora? She is a friend of mine that likes tennis as well. She is not obsessed with the WTA as I am, but she watches a lot when she can, especially the three Grand Slams, apart from Wimbledon, that get televised here. Also, she watches a lot more ATP and other sports than me.
She is really good at writing, better than me to be honest and you should all read this preview and her other articles here. She is great at tennis, you will see it ;) Here comes the article.
NOTE:Nora wrote that article after I phoned her to tell her the draw for fun as she was bored(she is interested in writing a lot). She was not planning to post it here, but I said her as I couldn't do something it would be great. So, it gets published a bit belated.
As the most ancient tennis tournament in the world is about to begin, we give you an insight into some key players' profiles by using statistics, game analyses, the latest news, as to their form as well as our personal prediction.
Women's table
Key players #1:Serena Williams
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| Serena Williams with last year's trophy. Photo: HEATHCLIFFE O'MALLEY |
The American appeared hungry for the title, as she has been in the pursuit of her 22nd won Grand Slam for almost a year, having already suffered not a few upsets all those months. It all started in September 2015 when she was defeated in front of her compatriots by R.Vinci in US Open semis. Then, she lost to the tough German, A. Kerber, in 2016 Oz Open Final and later on to the young gun, G.Muguruza, once again in a Grand Slam final (Roland Garros 2016). Consequently, she conquered her last major title on English grass last year and now she is desperate to repeat this achievement and break great Graf's record of being the unique female tennis player in the Open Era to have won 22 Grand Slams. This time, it seems like nothing can't stop her but for those who have watched her match against Vinci nine months ago, favorites are just for the stats, as during a tennis clash anything can happen. It's a fact, however, that numerous sports experts and psychologists support that her exceptionally unexpected defeat(that we mentioned above) in New York has severely damaged her self-esteem and caused to her a great lot of anxiety and insecurity regarding her degree of readiness to conquer as many Major titles as Steffi. It is also true that legendary Serena is an athlete with impressive drive and ambition, so chances are she is aiming to make several convincing performances and at the end win the trophy, replying deafeningly in this way to everyone who have doubted her capability of conquering the 22nd Grand Slam title she desires so much.
Our personal prediction:2016 Wimbledon Champion
Key player #2:Garbine Muguruza**
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| Garbine Muguruza with the runner-up trophy last year. Source:Getty |
Last year, the talented Spanish was Wimbledon runner-up, losing to Serena in straight sets. This year, though, Garbi arrived in Britain with boosted confidence after her triumph on Paris clay against the woman who deprived her of the chance to be 2016 Wimbledon reigning champion. She is beyond a shadow of a doubt a vibrant and dynamic sportswoman and she is expected to do pretty good job in the third Grand Slam of the year. Now, it remains to see how she will handle success, considering her young age which may create overexcitement to the Latin and keep her away from stunning performances equal to those she made in last Roland Garros. Her draw is considered rather safe and by no means tricky or challenging- that's apparently the reason why Muguruza is thought to be one of the favorites to win the tournament in Ladies' Singles. What is more, in case there is one tennis player able to beat S.Williams at the moment, that must be Garbine...Anyway, experts predict that Garbi will be next world #1 and that she will conquer quite a lot of Grand Slam titles in the future.
Our personal prediction:2016 Wimbledon Finalist
Key player #3:Madison Keys
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| Madison Keys during last year's Wimbledon. Source:Getty |
The American is considered to be a rising star of WTA with enormous potential for success in the immediate future. She is got a huge and astonishingly fast service which led her to some extent to Oz Open semis back in 2015, losing to S. Williams in straight sets. The most impressive of all, though, was that during that tournament her second service was slightly faster than Andy Murray's! In 2016, (despite the fact that she has admittedly gained some consistency in her game) she has yet to prove tennis analysts that she is the next big thing in women's tennis and that she is not a firework athlete*. However, Keys is believed to do well in Wimbledon, as most sports experts think it is high time she stunned the whole tennis planet with her performances in a challenging Grand Slam like that (given that in theory she's got all the weapons needed to do so). Another thing is that it seems no reason for her to feel under pressure, as she is neither a local favorite(such as L.Robson and J.Konta) nor a player with many previous successful Grand Slam appearances. Consequently, she appeared to have pretty good chances of doing a remarkable job in this tournament as long as she is not on bad form and she is not going through injury issues.
* By the term "firework athlete" we mean a sportsman or a sportswoman who has made some impressive performances in the past that they didn't last though for a long time. So, this kind of athlete was in the spotlight for some time because of them but now they perform poorly ( a striking example of a firework athlete is Canada's Eugenie Bouchard)
Our personal prediction:Madi on QFs
Key player #4:Simona Halep
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| Simona Halep during the 2014 Wimbledon. Source:AFP |
The most spectacular highlight in Simona's career so far was probably the amazing final she played in 2014 Roland Garros against Sharapova (although she was eventually beaten by the Russian in three sets). As to Wimbledon, she managed to reach the semis two years ago, losing to the Canadian E.Bouchard, but next year she arrived in England feeling a bit blue after her failure to perform in 2015 Roland Garros as well as in 2014. This year, the Romanian gives again the impression that she is kind of confused and frustrated. We'd better bear in mind the way in which she was knocked out of the last French Open S.Stosur, being up in the score until the suspension of the match due to rain but having no answer to Samantha's thrilling comeback when the clash restarted. The above fact indicates a clear weakness regarding Halep's mental game, on which she has to work particularly hard if she wants to be more successful in the long term. The most negative for Simona, however, is that her collapse in that match affected her to such an extent that in the press conference that followed she even accused people in charge of the tournament of allowing the play to start again despite the continuing rainfall. Now, individuals who are into tennis are looking forward to her reaction after her traumatic experience in Paris and some predict that Halep will go pretty far at the All-England Club, wanting to prove to anyone that she is a tough athlete who responds with consecutive victories to disapproving criticism. On the other hand, though, it's true that her current form is far from great, although she potentially has all it takes to succeed in a Major tournament.
Our personal prediction: 4th round (maximum)
Some extra things you should take into consideration
A. Key players' seeds in Wimbledon:
S.Williams #1
G.Muguruza #2
M.Keys #9
S.Halep #5
B.Players we didn't mention above but may do quite well on English grass
P.Kvitova:The Czech is a two-time Wimbledon Champion, which means that she apparently has the so-called "know-how" advantage compared to most athletes participating at the All-England Club. However, we did not characterize her as a key player, being aware of the inconsistency of her game. Of course, this doesn't mean at all she is an outsider, as everybody knows what a quality sportswoman she is and how marvelous job she can do provided that she is in good form.
A.Radwanska: It is common knowledge that Aga is usually punctual at every single great rendez-vous of WTA. On the other hand, though, her form right now is by no mean ideal and that's the reason why she was not included in key players. However, it is generally believed that Radwanska is worth a Major title and she also has pretty important previous experience in Wimbledon, having once managed to be a runner-up. So, she can possibly go far in the specific Grand Slam in case she is capable of replicating the form of 2012.
S.Lisicki: The German is considered a grass specialist, having beaten both M.Sharapova and S.Williams in Wimbledon in 2011 and 2013. At the moment, however, she is admittedly on bad form and her performances are extremely poor even on grass, but Sabine has proved that she feels alright in Wimbledon courts. So, she may upset the apple cart and achieve something great in Britain. All in all, she has been once a finalist in Wimbledon, which means that Lisicki does not lack experience as to this tournament and can deafeningly succeed in it.
ENJOY YOUR STRAWBERRIES AND CREAM ON THE RAINY OUTSKIRTS OF LONDON!
KEEP CALM AND WATCH SOME WIMBLEDON TENNIS!
WHO WILL GLOOM ON GRASS?
**Garbine Muguruza lost today to Jana Cepelova in R2. However, as I told you, the article was written before.
