Wimbledon Preview Talk

[Kieran]

It's all about Serena, isn't it? After the most dramatic and high quality French Open in years, she heads to Wimbledon, a happy hunting ground, hoping to complete another Serena Slam, while taking a 21st major and setting herself up fair to head to New York, win a 22nd, defend her title for the 4th year in a row, and gain the holy grail of the sport: the calendar year slam! :clap

But I'm getting ahead of myself: she's only got two of them and she fell short at Wimbledon last year. Others will be sniffing around, and it's Kvitova's title to defend, going for a third.

Halep isn't the same girl this year as last, and I suspect that Safarova won't be a feature. Maria? Could she? Scream and screech her way like a playground brat to another title? Could she?

What do you expect to happen this year at The Championships?

 

[Sundaymorningguy]

I think this depends on where some key people land for the top seeds like Azarenka, Lisicki, Safarova perhaps, perhaps Keys, Venus can always be dangerous. I am hoping the extra week off helps Serena and gets her focused and reenergized to at least get to the QF or better. Azarenka is playing a warm up before Wimbledon, so hopefully that helps with her seeding there.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Halep will not be a factor at all in Wimby.

Safarova, Timea etc are not players who can repeat their success.

Maria is not known to win anything big in odd years.

Expect Azrenka to do well here (assuming she doe not run into serena early)

I expect Serena to win this one and do so without drama.

But then, once she reaches 21 she may have to wait there for a while before reaching 22.

 

[Sundaymorningguy]

I am glad Azarenka is playing a warm up before Wimbledon. I am tired of her talking about her bad luck with draws. That is something she can somewhat control by playing tournaments and getting her ranking up. She seems to think coming back from injury that she can just go into big tournaments and do the impossible. Serena and Maria have a lot of pride and they aren't going to be a cakewalk for you no matter the round. Win some smaller tournaments where people like Ana and Simona are the top seeds playing and get some good match play and a somewhat penciled in win probably.

 

[tossip]

its too early to tell who will do well at Wimbledon...Kvitova Lisicki and Kerber are all very good at Wimbledon.Azarenka is not good at Wimbledon because of her serve ..Wimbledon is for big hitters like Serena,Pliskova,Venus,Kerber with her consistency and Lisicki s monster serve..pova not so much.
We will see the draw and determine who has a chance...
I am sure Wimbledon will try to diss Serena like they did last year...but this year she will not bite.
#21

 

[Sundaymorningguy]

I don't know it is in Wimbledon's best interest to somewhat tinker with seedings this year as they want to give Serena the best shot at the title for marketing purposes I mean #21 and completing a Serena Slam is good advertisement for your tournament because it happened there.

 

[Kirijax]

The only match I want to see is a healthy Serena vs. last year's version of Kvitova in the Wimby final. Now that would be fun!

 

[GameSetAndMath]

I don't know it is in Wimbledon's best interest to somewhat tinker with seedings this year as they want to give Serena the best shot at the title for marketing purposes I mean #21 and completing a Serena Slam is good advertisement for your tournament because it happened there.

No, they will not do it. Doing so is wrong. It is this kind of posts that make people believe in conspiracy theories over the draw.

Unfortunately, the seeding is done by the subjective view of a committee. However, theirpurpose of tinkering is not so much to give a particular player the best shot, but to makesure that the draw is balanced based on the playing ability of players with particular emphasis on grass play.

 

[Sundaymorningguy]

That is my point they will move up an Azarenka or someone else they see fit to move up if only for a round later. I doubt they want to see a Serena/Azarenka 3rd round more along the lines of a 4th or QF if possible. I am not saying they will. They might choose to go by the ranking, but they might give consideration to some like Lisicki and Azarenka by a couple spots. Lisicki is a few spots from a top 16 seeding, so they may bump her up. Azarenka is currently 25, so they may bump her into the top 24. Venus is already in the top 16.

I only ever like to see tinkering for the sake of balance. There were quite a bit of top heavy draws that we have gotten lately in places like Madrid, Rome and even a bit in Paris initially. I hope that those who need to get their ranking up do soon, so we can find more balanced draws.

 

[10isfan]

Wimby is Petra's to lose, and I don't think she will. She plays with supreme confidence there. Serena's serve makes her one of the favorites, but Petra can outhit her.

Hoping all the contender land on Pova's and Halep's quarter since neither has a good chance of getting very far on grass.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Wimby is Petra's to lose, and I don't think she will. She plays with supreme confidence there. Serena's serve makes her one of the favorites, but Petra can outhit her.

Hoping all the contender land on Pova's and Halep's quarter since neither has a good chance of getting very far on grass.

You are right. But, Petra is so unreliable and is a Master at self-destruction that I will never ever bet my money on her.

 

[sk310]

Wimby is Petra's to lose, and I don't think she will. She plays with supreme confidence there. Serena's serve makes her one of the favorites, but Petra can outhit her.

Hoping all the contender land on Pova's and Halep's quarter since neither has a good chance of getting very far on grass.

You are right. But, Petra is so unreliable and is a Master at self-destruction that I will never ever bet my money on her.

Agreed. I absolutely don't think Petra will do well here. She isn't exactly known as a person who plays well under pressure and the pressure is always on the defending champion.

 

[Sundaymorningguy]

Well the thing Serena has to tell herself from this point on really is that I have been ripe for the picking in that I am in some cases 8-10 years older than some of these players and I have played the last two slams sick and none of the other players have been able to finish me off when the chance was there. I can imagine she will definitely feel better about her chances even more if she actually shows up to Wimbledon without being sick.

 

[Kirijax]

I have to agree about Kvitova. She has the game but she self-destructs so often. She is my favorite WTA player at the moment but I will be shocked if she actually wins her second straight Wimbledon title. But she had a fairly good clay season, so hopefully her grass season will be even better.

 

[Sundaymorningguy]

Interesting/not so interesting French Open facts:

Serena led in the following categories: Aces, Double Faults, Serve Speed, 1st serve return points won, Break Points Won

She was 2nd in 2nd serve return points won

Lucie Safarova led in the 2nd serve return points won

Take away: Serena needs to work on her serve consistency. Hahaha, it isn't often you see her be both the Ace and Double Fault Queen. Her return of serve was there. It was nice to see her take large cuts at the ball. Not that she really had a choice in the matter when trying to end points quicker, but I would like to see her take larger cuts at the return when the opportunity presents itself.

 

[tossip]

Azarenka is not good on grass and as of now will not beat Serena,she crossed the line into pova territory with her comments after her loss at RG.She can posture all she wants but Serena has put a mark on her...she is now the Dementieva of these times...

 

[Sundaymorningguy]

Azarenka didn't say anything bad about Serena though at RG. Her thoughts and anger were directed at Nouni the umpire as they should have been.

 

[Federberg]

Azarenka is not good on grass and as of now will not beat Serena,she crossed the line into pova territory with her comments after her loss at RG.She can posture all she wants but Serena has put a mark on her...she is now the Dementieva of these times...

:laydownlaughing
where do you get this stuff from? They actually get along quite well. I don't understand why you feel the need to come up with these conflict stories :nono

 

[Sundaymorningguy]

I think if anything Serena might have slightly distanced herself from Azarenka and Wozniacki at least for the moment to focus on herself and her tennis. I think Maria Sharapova whatever her faults may be is smart in distancing herself from too many friendships on tour. Sometimes it is a hard ask to close out a friend/someone you respect. I think it is slightly harder to play someone you are friends with on tour. Her tough matches are usually those that she lets into the friendship circle like Azarenka and Wozniacki.

 

[tossip]

I prefer the merciless Serena..I remember just before she played Kvitova she went on on and on talking about how nice Petra is and she lost to her.
the body language between Zenka and Serena has changed...the way they looked at each other during that exchange in the 3rd round clearly tells me they are no longer friends...plus the Sascha situation has divided them.Serena unfollowed them on twitter...thats enough message.
Azarenka has never been good at Wimbledon and if she meets Serena the outcome will be the same...