2019 Women's Wimbledon Championships

[tented]

DATE: July 1-14, 2019
SURFACE: Grass
LADIES SINGLES PRIZE MONEY: $22,876,979
FIELD SIZE: 128
DEFENDING CHAMPION: Angelique Kerber

Seeds:

1. Ashleigh Barty
2. Naomi Osaka
3. Karolina Pliskova
4. Kiki Bertens
5. Angelique Kerber
6. Petra Kvitova
7. Simona Halep
8. Elina Svitolina
9. Sloane Stephens
10. Aryna Sabalenka
11. Serena Williams
12. Anastasija Sevastova
13. Belinda Bencic
14. Caroline Wozniacki
15. Wang Qiang
16. Marketa Vondrousova
17. Madison Keys
18. Julia Gorges
19. Johanna Konta
20. Anett Kontaveit
21. Elise Mertens
22. Donna Vekic
23. Caroline Garcia
24. Petra Martic
25. Amanda Anisimova
26. Garbine Muguruza
27. Sofia Kenin
28. Hsieh Su-wei
29. Daria Kasatkina
30. Carla Suarez Navarro
31. Maria Sakkari
32. Lesia Tsurenko

The Tournament:

The Championships, Wimbledon, commonly known simply as Wimbledon, is the oldest tennis tournament in the world, and is considered by many to be the most prestigious.

It has been held at the All England Club in Wimbledon, London since 1877. It is one of the four Grand Slam tennis tournaments, the others being the Australian Open, the French Open and the US Open. Since the Australian Open shifted to hardcourt in 1988, Wimbledon is the only major still played on grass.

It continues to honour many long-standing traditions, including a strict dress code for competitors, the eating of strawberries and cream, and royal patronage.

WTA legend Martina Navratilova holds the ladies tournament record with nine singles titles. She also has the Open Era record with seven doubles titles. On top of that, she has four mixed doubles crowns, giving her a remarkable 20 Wimbledon triumphs altogether. Others who have dominated the event in the Open Era include Steffi Graf and Serena Williams with seven singles titles and Venus Williams with five.

About London

London is the capital and most populous city of England, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom. Standing on the River Thames in the south eastern part of the island of Great Britain it has a population of 8.5 million with a wider metro of nearly 14 million inhabitants.

London is a leading global city, with strengths in the arts, commerce, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, professional services, research and development, tourism, and transport all contributing to its prominence. It is one of the world's leading financial centres.

Photo: David Iliff

Tourism Guide:

 

[tented]

The Draw:

 

[kskate2]

Serena, Naomi, Kerbie and Halep have tough draws.

 

[tenisplayrla08]

I'm SO glad the draw is finally out. Finally here. It makes the start of Wimbledon on Monday oh so very real and I am SO ready. My favorite tournament of the year by far.

BUT. After looking it over. And writing a bit. I realized, that while I'm always long winded on here, this time it looks like it's because this draw is OPEN! And it literally ALL feels like speculation. Because.... the depth on the WTA tour at this point is ... it's amazing. But it means picking any tournament, even the slams, is difficult. I mean. Barty was only the 8th seed at RG. That's not unseeded or even outside the top 10. But she only had to play one seeded player the entire time (Keys) and she wasn't a top 10 seed. I don't think this draw will fall apart that much. But the parity on the tour is definitely going to have it's say. There will be upsets. Therefore there will be openings.

So. With Serena not match tough and having had injuries and just not looking great in general and your defending champ Kerber being... well Kerber and Venus, the oldest of the old guard looking like precisely that... The younger generation taking over here finally would not be a surprise (I know Muguruza just won like 2 years ago. But Venus was in that final.) But as I was starting to say above. It'd be very hard for Barty to replicate her run at RG here. Even if she is an older more poised version of herself now and won Birmingham and is good on grass. And, yes. She won the junior title here at 15. She's still hardly THE favorite. A favorite? Sure. But this thing is open. To be clear. Serena and Kerber are top favorites. BUT of course I'm sure you've all already seen, they are in the same 8th. If they get to each other, last year's final will be in the 4th round this year. Whoever wins that match, if it happens, still has to win 3 more matches to win this thing. IF Barty does win this thing. Then yes. Her story of walking away from the game when she was struggling with it mentally and playing cricket and doing well there and coming back and winning TWO straight slams after a year and a half or so to get reacclimated to the tour will be complete. And she will have to be considered one of the top 2 or 3 threats going forward in the women's game for the next decade. Winning RG did that mostly. I don't think she's going anywhere. But we're not there yet.

Annnnddd everything I've just said only refers to 3 players from the top quarter. It's a STACKED quarter. Followed by another solidly stacked quarter. Then the second half top quarter is SO OPEN! And then the bottom quarter is just as stacked if not more stacked than the top quarter. And it's because of the 2 seriously stacked quarters that I have NO idea who to pick to even make the quarters much less the semis or the final.

Your favorites are in question. The draw is nuts. The old guard is waning. But they aren't dead. And your young guard favorites are ... well, to be redundant, still young. This thing is OPEN!

So, while I've still been long winded. It's almost pointless for me to write at length about who does what in what quarter. So I'll probably follow up with some first round matches to watch (NOT that ANY of you need me to do that). And do some breakdowns. But I'll just try to keep it short I guess. Because I'm probably going to be wrong for most of it.

 

[tenisplayrla08]

First quarter:
It's STACKED with like half of the grand slam champs on tour. Just going down the draw. Barty, Kuznetsova, Muguruza, Serena, Stosur, Sharapova, then Kerber. SEVEN of the tour's.... 15 current slam champs that are in this draw. There's 14 slams between the 6 non Serena ladies and then Serena's 23 slams. 37 slams between those ladies. Stosur gets CSN in the first round. Sharapova gets Parmentier. And whoever wins those matches plays each other. Then whoever wins that likely plays Kerber. Then the Serena 4th round looms. Barty/Muguruza in the third round would be a dream match up. A round or so too early. But Muguruza is where she is. So 3rd round it is. If Kuznetsova is capable of winning a match, Barty would have to play her in the second round.
That doesn't even take into account the Vekic/Bencic 16th. That's Barty or Muguruza's slated 4th round opponent. BUT a Vekic/Riske first round match up is definitely one to watch. Riske SO good on grass. Vekic has looked good on grass too though. Should be a battle. Kanepi is also in this 16th. And Goerges, lost to Serena in the semis last year, sits in Serena's 16th. From the semis to the third round if they can both get there, which... looks likely. I'm curious about Kaja Juvan (qualifier). So Juvan/Kr. Pliskova first round is one to watch because they'll play Serena. FIVE of the 16 qualifiers fall in this 16th with Serena and Goerges though. See what I mean about a nuts draw.

I'm legit not picking the winners of these quarters. If I had to choose, I'm going with Serena. On grass, she finds a way. But Kerber can definitely beat her and Barty probably could too. As could Muguruza. And we'll see if she's even healthy.

Second quarter:
Still stacked.
Bertens/Kvitova headline. But Stephens is here. Konta. Anisimova newly seeded at 25. The Mertens/Q. Wang 16th is a slight opening for someone there. But they'll likely have to face Bertens.
Strycova/Tsurenko is a first round match to watch. I mean. As an upset that is. Strycova has always been solid on grass if I remember correctly and Tsurenko is the last seed anyways. Grass is not her forte if I remember correctly. Still. Strycova to the 3rd round is no guarantee and Bertens would probably win. Kvitova should be good to go as far as her draw is concerned. At least until she meets a seed. BUT Diatchenko qualified and then beat Sharapova here in the first round last year en route to a third round loss to Ostapenko. Second round possibility for Kvitova.
I'm not optimistic about Sloane's chances at this point. Not before the draw. But definitely not after this draw. Konta would be her third round opponent. They never played before this year. They've now played 3 times this year and Konta has won them all. And Konta is probably the better grass court player. Sloane can be so good that she can always surprise me and I'm hoping for it. But honestly I'm just hoping she makes the 2nd or third round. A 3rd successive 1st round loss here would just not look good and does not help her confidence.
Pulling for Kvitova. But I like Bertens. Would love to see a quarter between them. Fun quarter no matter what.

 

[Horsa]

I'm SO glad the draw is finally out. Finally here. It makes the start of Wimbledon on Monday oh so very real and I am SO ready. My favorite tournament of the year by far.

BUT. After looking it over. And writing a bit. I realized, that while I'm always long winded on here, this time it looks like it's because this draw is OPEN! And it literally ALL feels like speculation. Because.... the depth on the WTA tour at this point is ... it's amazing. But it means picking any tournament, even the slams, is difficult. I mean. Barty was only the 8th seed at RG. That's not unseeded or even outside the top 10. But she only had to play one seeded player the entire time (Keys) and she wasn't a top 10 seed. I don't think this draw will fall apart that much. But the parity on the tour is definitely going to have it's say. There will be upsets. Therefore there will be openings.

So. With Serena not match tough and having had injuries and just not looking great in general and your defending champ Kerber being... well Kerber and Venus, the oldest of the old guard looking like precisely that... The younger generation taking over here finally would not be a surprise (I know Muguruza just won like 2 years ago. But Venus was in that final.) But as I was starting to say above. It'd be very hard for Barty to replicate her run at RG here. Even if she is an older more poised version of herself now and won Birmingham and is good on grass. And, yes. She won the junior title here at 15. She's still hardly THE favorite. A favorite? Sure. But this thing is open. To be clear. Serena and Kerber are top favorites. BUT of course I'm sure you've all already seen, they are in the same 8th. If they get to each other, last year's final will be in the 4th round this year. Whoever wins that match, if it happens, still has to win 3 more matches to win this thing. IF Barty does win this thing. Then yes. Her story of walking away from the game when she was struggling with it mentally and playing cricket and doing well there and coming back and winning TWO straight slams after a year and a half or so to get reacclimated to the tour will be complete. And she will have to be considered one of the top 2 or 3 threats going forward in the women's game for the next decade. Winning RG did that mostly. I don't think she's going anywhere. But we're not there yet.

Annnnddd everything I've just said only refers to 3 players from the top quarter. It's a STACKED quarter. Followed by another solidly stacked quarter. Then the second half top quarter is SO OPEN! And then the bottom quarter is just as stacked if not more stacked than the top quarter. And it's because of the 2 seriously stacked quarters that I have NO idea who to pick to even make the quarters much less the semis or the final.

Your favorites are in question. The draw is nuts. The old guard is waning. But they aren't dead. And your young guard favorites are ... well, to be redundant, still young. This thing is OPEN!

So, while I've still been long winded. It's almost pointless for me to write at length about who does what in what quarter. So I'll probably follow up with some first round matches to watch (NOT that ANY of you need me to do that). And do some breakdowns. But I'll just try to keep it short I guess. Because I'm probably going to be wrong for most of it.

I'm glad Wimbledon is here soon as it's my favourite tournament too. Unfortunately for me the last couple of years have been bad for the strawberries. Last year we had 6 on our plant so strawberries & cream were out of the question as Dad won't let us buy any while strawberries are in season & we have plants. This year we've got 9 so strawberries & cream are still out of the question.

 

[tenisplayrla08]

Third quarter:
SO OPEN. Seriously. SO OPEN.
Pliskova the 3 seed. Could win this whole thing. Plays Kerber tomorrow for the Eastbourne title. Could lose in the 2nd or 3rd round. I don't think her first round opponent, Zhu can beat her. BUT. You never know with her. And I know nothing about Zhu. A match to keep an eye on. Of course Hsieh/Ostapenko is the marquee first round match to watch. Hsieh beat Halep and made the 4th round last year. Ostapenko has a quarter and then a semi here last year. Ostapenko, theoretically should blow Hsieh off the court. But Ostapenko will almost certainly give Hsieh multiple chances to stay in it and beat her and of course Hsieh will be crafty as always and will earn plenty of her own chances.
Vondrousova/Brengle. The RG finalist turns 20 TODAY. But just to see if Vondrousova is ready to back up her strong RG play. Plus Brengle is hit or miss. Vondrousova has been making finals and quarters all year. She was one of the tours most consistent before RG. But I don't know about her on grass. She's yet to win a match at Wimbledon though in 2 trips. Unless she did well in the juniors which I feel like she may have been in a final in juniors. But that may be someone else.
Svitolina has not looked good in months. Doesn't have great results here. And may not even be healthy. But if she is healthy, this draw could be her best shot at her first slam semi. But only 1 run to the 4th round here so far. Martic got a good win over Ostapenko in the Birmingham quarters. Lost to Goerges in the semis. But coupled with her RG quarter run, she should be confident. Sevastova is her 16th opponent. Potapova, who I KNOW was in a Wimbledon junior final, is a likely second round opponent for Martic though.
Puig/Schmiedlova will decide Pliskova's second round opponent.
Collins/Diyas. Just to see if Collins has the goods this time round. Semi at AO probably feels like a long time ago at this point for her. Been struggling. But maybe this open quarter is just what she needs.

Fourth quarter:
Finally Osaka. Now at the bottom of the draw with her #2 seed. She's got a doozy of a draw. Halep supposed to be her qf opponent. But Kenin in the third round possibly. Then Garcia or Wozniacki. Probably Garcia. Garcia looking good on the grass. Looking consistent for once. BUT... could just go off it. Sorribes Tormo could be a tough out for Wozniacki.
Then the Sabalenka/Keys/Venus 16th. I can't even just list Sabalenka and Keys, the two seeds as the top ladies in that 16th. It's supposed to be theirs. But if Venus is even remotely capable of playing, Sabalenka has a CHALLENGE on her hands in the second round. But on the other side, so does Venus in Sabalenka. But also. I CANNOT believe Tennis.com actually called it. Cori Gauff quailified and Tennis.com was like, "It'd be great if she got a first or second round match up with Serena or Venus, her idols." Well they got it. Venus/Gauff. I know nothing about 15 year old Gauff. She seems to be the future they say. But, for now. She's 15. Venus has 5 Wimbledon titles and isn't dead yet. We'll see how it goes. Big match to watch. Keys only has to play one of them. If she can get there. Khumkum, Hercog, and Kuzmova shouldn't stop Keys. But then whoever comes out alive of this 16th has Halep looming the 4th round. BUT. Halep has to get past Sasnovich first. Sasnovich came back and beat Kvitova 6-0 in the third set of the first round here last year and then backed it up all the way to the 4th round. Definitely a top first round match to watch. Then Vika is in this 16th as well. But Vika/Cornet is a first rounder to watch. Whoever wins it, hopefully Vika in my book, has a solid chance to beat the winner of Kasatkina/Tomljanovic. Then comes Halep or Sasnovich. Though is Sasnovich can pull off the upset, then Pegula/Buzarnescu have a solid chance of beating Sasnovich who is always up and down. Halep probably too tough for Sasnovich though. Hoping to see Halep/Vika, followed by Vika/Venus. Probably won't get that.
I WOULD like to see Sabalenka come through and Osaka come through and get the rematch of the match that MAY have decided the US Open last year. But not more than I wanna see Venus and Vika get some ranking points and a shot at the quarters and semis.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Wimbledon is not my favorite tournament of the year,it has changed so much over the years.
Grass is for cows and barnyard animals is it not
Agree with Kskate tough draws for Serena,Osaka,Kerber and Halep.
Of course my main interest will be Ash Barty who has the chance to complete The Channel Slam,last player to achieve that was Serena in 2015.

 

[tenisplayrla08]

Serena, Naomi, Kerbie and Halep have tough draws.

Everyone has a tough draw.

 

[Horsa]

Wimbledon is not my favorite tournament of the year,it has changed so much over the years.
Grass is for cows and barnyard animals is it not
Agree with Kskate tough draws for Serena,Osaka,Kerber and Halep.
Of course my main interest will be Ash Barty who has the chance to complete The Channel Slam,last player to achieve that was Serena in 2015.

Grass is also for horses & laying on with a picnic & a book on a nice, hot summer's day. :0)

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Grass is also for horses & laying on with a picnic & a book on a nice, hot summer's day. :0)

LOL! I was brought up on the 'tough stuff' clay not slippery grass

 

[Horsa]

LOL! I was brought up on the 'tough stuff' clay not slippery grass

Lol. I'm British. We only ever learnt how to play lawn tennis & occasionally we played on tarmac when the weather was good & in the hall when it wasn't. When I was at school clay was for making pots, plates & ornaments out of though we also learnt how brick-yards made bricks out of clay. :0)

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Lol. I'm British. We only ever learnt how to play lawn tennis & occasionally we played on tarmac when the weather was good & in the hall when it wasn't. When I was at school clay was for making pots, plates & ornaments out of though we also learnt how brick-yards made bricks out of clay. :0)

See clay is just not for playing tennis on no?

 

[Horsa]

See clay is just not for playing tennis on no?

Definitely. Clay is very useful, not just for playing tennis on. Like I stated before they make bricks, pots, plates, dishes & ornaments with it. At 1 time they used to make records with it. :0)

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

I am also interested to see how Kenin and Anisimova do in this tournament.Kenin just won Mallorca tournament in a hard fought match against Bencic,I love her grit and determination,her game does seem to translate on all surfaces.

I have a 'injury cloud' over Petra and also Serena.

Pliskova is my 'dark horse' to win the tournament.Plisokva and Kerber meet in the final of Eastbourne tomorrow,should be a good indication of both players going into Wimbledon.

 

[tenisplayrla08]

Just saw Tennis.com's write up 5 first rounders to watch. I totally didn't think about Osaka/Putintseva. First of all I thought Putintseva was more of a clay courter. And I didn't know she'd won all their previous matches. AND I wasn't paying attention enough to remember that she had just beaten Osaka on grass last week. Though once they said it I remembered seeing it.

I did see Jabeur made the semis of Eastbourne this week. But I didn't mention her verse Kvitova because I saw that she gave Kerber the walkover. I figured she may not be ready for Wimbledon. Though I did consider that she just wanted to make sure she healed up for Wimbledon, whatever her injury was, which I didn't look for. Tennis. com said it's an ankle injury. Probably just a tweak. But of course, no matter who Kvitova plays, she can always lose the match. She can always blow it. Like I mentioned with her loss to Sasnovich last year.

And I don't even remember if I mentioned Maria v Kerber. But Maria had a nice run on grass last year before Wimbledon. So yes, she is definitely someone Kerber will need to be at her best to beat and coming off playing the Eastbourne final tomorrow, she could be ever so slightly tired. She'll need to recover quickly. That's for sure.

Vika/Cornet I did mention. Cornet solid on grass. Vika still not back to world beating status. Should be a good match.
And of course Venus/Gauff is big.

They only wanted 5 matches but I'd say they're missing out on Halep/Sasnovich.

Other matches to watch, that will should be good but don't have as big of names in them would be:
Giorgi/Yastremska
I mentioned Venus/Sabalenka in the second round. But
Sabalenka/Rybarikova could be good. Rybarikova with a semi here 2 years ago.
Part of the reason I mentioned Svitolina not doing well is because Gavrilova is not pushover. Was top 30 just last year I think.
I mentioned Hsieh/Ostapenko. I think that'll be really good.
Mladenovic/Diatchenko
Bencic/Pavlyuchenkova.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

One of my all time favorite players,especially on grass Venus Williams,just 39 years young will play the 15 year old Cori "Coco" Gauff.Apparently before the draw,Gauff said it would be amazing to play a Williams' in the first round,she got her wish.

 

[britbox]

Lol. I'm British. We only ever learnt how to play lawn tennis & occasionally we played on tarmac when the weather was good & in the hall when it wasn't. When I was at school clay was for making pots, plates & ornaments out of though we also learnt how brick-yards made bricks out of clay. :0)

You must have gone to a posh school if you had grass courts

 

[britbox]

LOL! I was brought up on the 'tough stuff' clay not slippery grass

Have you played on grass? It's something else. Takes a bit of getting used to.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Have you played on grass? It's something else. Takes a bit of getting used to.

Yes.My husband and I play mixed doubles on grass at Hunter's Hill in Sydney,which has the most beautiful grass courts and well kept.Not many grass courts in Sydney,very expensive to upkeep.My husband loves grass,well Pete Sampras was his idol.
That is why I appreciate players that have accomplished the 'Channel Slam',very difficult coming from clay to grass.