No Serena means no clear favourite at Wimbledon
Open grand slam expected as American juggernaut misses out due to pregnancy
PHOTO: AFP
MANCHESTER:
The absence of expectant mother Serena Williams and a failure by any of the other top women to produce the kind of dominance the American seven-time champion has consistently delivered makes this year's Wimbledon the most open in years.
As Serena takes time out to give birth to her first child, last year's losing finalist and world number one Angelique Kerber could be regarded as the favourite but the German has endured a poor season, and is lacking both confidence and form.
"It is pretty open, you see the results of the tournaments you just can't pick a winner because you never know what to expect, who is going to have the better week or two," world number nine Dominika Cibulkova told Reuters. "It is about who is going to be the most consistent, solid and have the luck.”
Such is the absence of a clear favourite, that the bookmaker's current choice, Petra Kvitova, would have to produce one of the most remarkable comebacks the sport has ever seen to claim her third Wimbledon title.
In December, her career was hanging by a thread after she was knifed during a break-in at her house in the Czech Republic, suffering serious tendon damage to her left hand. The 27-year-old returned to action at the French Open last month and suffered a second round defeat on the Parisian clay, but the two-time Wimbledon champion, who triumphed in 2011 and 2014, clearly loves grass-court tennis.
Despite playing down her chances and talking only of getting back into the groove, she stormed to the title in a warm-up event at Edgbaston last week, showing the kind of tennis that makes her such an formidable opponent on the quickest surface.
Yet it was typical of the current state of the women's game that even Kvitova's re-emergence had a modicum of doubt cast over it when she withdrew from this week's event at Eastbourne with an abdominal strain. "I showed myself that I can play five matches in six days, but now I need a bit to relax to be ready,” she said. “I know how tough it is to win a grand slam, so I'm not really seeing myself as one of the favourites right now.”
Her compatriot Karolina Pliskova has had a strong year and will be expected to make a deep run, the tall, big-hitter filling the role usually occupied by Russia's Maria Sharapova, whose return from a drugs ban has been stalled by injury. Pliskova made her grand slam breakthrough with a run to the U.S. Open final last year, beating Serena along the way, and followed up by making the quarter-finals in Australia and claiming two tour titles before going to the French Open.
The absence of expectant mother Serena Williams and a failure by any of the other top women to produce the kind of dominance the American seven-time champion has consistently delivered makes this year's Wimbledon the most open in years.
As Serena takes time out to give birth to her first child, last year's losing finalist and world number one Angelique Kerber could be regarded as the favourite but the German has endured a poor season, and is lacking both confidence and form.
"It is pretty open, you see the results of the tournaments you just can't pick a winner because you never know what to expect, who is going to have the better week or two," world number nine Dominika Cibulkova told Reuters. "It is about who is going to be the most consistent, solid and have the luck.”
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Such is the absence of a clear favourite, that the bookmaker's current choice, Petra Kvitova, would have to produce one of the most remarkable comebacks the sport has ever seen to claim her third Wimbledon title.
In December, her career was hanging by a thread after she was knifed during a break-in at her house in the Czech Republic, suffering serious tendon damage to her left hand. The 27-year-old returned to action at the French Open last month and suffered a second round defeat on the Parisian clay, but the two-time Wimbledon champion, who triumphed in 2011 and 2014, clearly loves grass-court tennis.
Despite playing down her chances and talking only of getting back into the groove, she stormed to the title in a warm-up event at Edgbaston last week, showing the kind of tennis that makes her such an formidable opponent on the quickest surface.
Yet it was typical of the current state of the women's game that even Kvitova's re-emergence had a modicum of doubt cast over it when she withdrew from this week's event at Eastbourne with an abdominal strain. "I showed myself that I can play five matches in six days, but now I need a bit to relax to be ready,” she said. “I know how tough it is to win a grand slam, so I'm not really seeing myself as one of the favourites right now.”
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Her compatriot Karolina Pliskova has had a strong year and will be expected to make a deep run, the tall, big-hitter filling the role usually occupied by Russia's Maria Sharapova, whose return from a drugs ban has been stalled by injury. Pliskova made her grand slam breakthrough with a run to the U.S. Open final last year, beating Serena along the way, and followed up by making the quarter-finals in Australia and claiming two tour titles before going to the French Open.