- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
The world’s most prestigious Grand Slam tournament, Wimbledon, is now less than a week away and given the form that Serena Williams has shown so far this year, it will be hard to see anyone other than her going all the way at the All England Club.
The world number one and five-time champion will start as the rampaging favourite as she seeks to complete a second Serena Slam, having initially done so between the 2002 French Open and 2003 Australian Open.
But, as always, Williams will face challenges in her bid for more Grand Slam history, from a list of contenders including defending champion Petra Kvitova, third seed Simona Halep and former champion Maria Sharapova.
Williams and Kvitova will start as the top two seeds, meaning that they cannot face each other until the final. The chances of Halep and Sharapova will then rest on which halves of the draw they are slotted into.
Let’s now have a look at some of the major contenders for Wimbledon 2015.
Serena Williams
Current world ranking: 1
Wimbledon history
Best result: Won (2002, 2003, 2009, 2010, 2012)
Last year’s result: Third round
Grand Slam results so far in 2015
Australian Open: Won
French Open: Won
Titles so far in 2015: Australian Open, Miami, French Open
Given the dominant season which world number one Serena Williams has had this year, it seems that only complacency, injury or a bad day at the office will stop her from adding to her growing Grand Slam tally of 20 at Wimbledon this year.
By winning the French Open for a third time this year, not only did she become the first woman since Jennifer Capriati in 2001 to win the Australian-French Open double, she also claimed her third consecutive Grand Slam tournament and now has the chance to become the first woman since, well, herself in 2002-3 to hold all four of the Grand Slam titles simultaneously.
But despite her dominance at the Slams this year, it isn’t quite exactly what it has turned out to be.
Seven of the fourteen matches she has played at this level have gone to three sets, with six of them (the exception being her win over Lucie Safarova in the French Open final) requiring her to come from a set down.
In addition, she hasn’t won a grass court title since claiming the gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics, and hasn’t gone past the fourth round at Wimbledon since claiming the title in that same year.
However, with the lure of history awaiting whereby she could get one step closer to emulating Steffi Graf’s 1988 feat of holding all four Grand Slam titles in the same calendar year, expect all that to change this year.
Prediction: Champion
Petra Kvitova
Current world ranking: 2
Wimbledon history
Best result: Won (2011, 2014)
Last year’s result: Won
Grand Slam results so far in 2015
Australian Open: Third round
French Open: Fourth round
Titles so far in 2015: Sydney, Madrid
If world number one Serena Williams doesn’t win the title, then perhaps defending champion Petra Kvitova will.
The world number two has always saved her best form for the grass courts of the All England Club, reaching at least the quarter-finals for each of the last five years after previously struggling on the surface prior to her run to the semi-finals in 2010.
But while her form at SW19 in recent years has been impressive, the same cannot be said for her fortunes at the other three Grand Slam tournaments; the Czech has not made a non-Wimbledon Grand Slam quarter-final since the 2012 French Open.
That barren run continued this year when she lost in the third and fourth rounds of the Australian and French Opens, respectively. But at the All England Club, where she is the defending champion, there will be no excuses.
The last time Kvitova attempted to defend her title at Wimbledon, she went down in the quarter-finals to eventual champion Serena Williams, not only giving up her crown but also her place in the top four, to Williams, in the process.
Thus, it will be interesting to see how she fares in her Wimbledon title defence this year.
Prediction: Final
Simona Halep
Current world ranking: 3
Wimbledon history
Best result: Semi-finals (2014)
Last year’s result: Semi-finals
Grand Slam results so far in 2015
Australian Open: Quarter-finals
French Open: Second round
Titles so far in 2015: Shenzhen, Dubai, Indian Wells
After a breakthrough 2014 at the Grand Slam tournaments, world number three Simona Halep appears to have taken a backward step this year; after reaching the quarter-finals at the Australian Open, the 23-year-old suffered a shocking second-round exit at the hands of Mirjana Lucic-Baroni at the French Open.
While her early exit at Roland Garros saw her remain third in the world rankings, she has fallen behind world number two Petra Kvitova and her Grand Slam credentials have again come into question.
Her most recent outing in Birmingham saw her lose in the quarter-finals to Frenchwoman Kristina Mladenovic in three sets. That would be the last thing she needs as she attempts to defend the semi-final points she gained last year.
Failure to match her performance from last year, or even go one better, could see her drop out of the top four, depending on how fourth-ranked Maria Sharapova and fifth-ranked Caroline Wozniacki fare.
Prediction: Quarter-finals
Maria Sharapova
Current world ranking: 4
Wimbledon history
Best result: Won (2004)
Last year’s result: Fourth round
Grand Slam results so far in 2015
Australian Open: Runner-up
French Open: Fourth round
Titles so far in 2015: Brisbane, Rome
Despite claiming two titles so far this year, 2015 has not unfolded the way Maria Sharapova would have liked it to.
The Russian started the year by claiming the Brisbane International before going down to Serena Williams for a 16th consecutive time in the final of the Australian Open in January.
And while she was able to regain the clay court title in Rome for the first time since 2012 last month, her French Open title defence came to an abrupt end when she lost in the fourth round to the eventual finalist, Lucie Safarova.
Her recent record at Wimbledon does not make for good reading; her loss to Petra Kvitova in the 2011 final remains the only time since 2006 in which she has gone past the fourth round at the tournament which she won as a 17-year-old in 2004.
But with only a fourth-round appearance to defend from last year, the Russian can bounce back from her French Open disappointment with a strong showing at SW19, but a semi-final showdown against either career nemesis Serena Williams or defending champion Kvitova could await should she get this far.
All she needs is to build the confidence in the early rounds and then she can use that as the foundations for an overdue run deep into the tournament.
Prediction: Semi-finals
Other contenders
Former world number one Caroline Wozniacki, the highest-ranked player other than the four players already mentioned above, headline some of the contenders for the title, as do last year’s finalist Eugenie Bouchard, five-time champion Venus Williams and recent French Open runner-up Lucie Safarova.
Wozniacki has had it tough at the Grand Slams this year, losing in the second round at both the Australian and French Opens, though at the former she could be considered unlucky to have drawn Victoria Azarenka as the Belarussian, who was returning from injury, was unseeded at Melbourne Park.
Bouchard, who has struggled for form this year, won just her second match since the Australian Open at the ongoing warm-up event in Eastbourne by defeating American Alison Riske in her opening match. As this article goes to print, she will face Belinda Bencic for a place in the quarter-finals there.
The big challenge for the Canadian will be whether she can successfully defend her points from last year, attained by reaching the final which she lost to Petra Kvitova. She could also risk her place in the top 20 throughout the fortnight and an early loss could see her further drop down the rankings.
After a disappointing showing at the French Open, where she lost in the first round to compatriot Sloane Stephens, Venus Williams will also be keen to make an impact at the All England Club, where she most recently saluted in 2008.
French Open runner-up Lucie Safarova will be another one of the names to watch out for; having also reached the semi-finals here at Wimbledon last year, the Czech number two will be keen to build on the good form which she displayed at Roland Garros, where she took Serena Williams to three sets in the final before losing.
These are just some of the female contenders for this year’s Wimbledon title. Will Serena Williams win a sixth title at the All England Club? Can Petra Kvitova successfully defend her title? And who, among those I haven’t mentioned, will cause a surprise and make a deep run?
Wimbledon gets underway this Monday night (AEST).
Whether it’s aces or races, try out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp for great odds and a great punting experience. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.