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Wimbledon 2016: Women's singles preview

Serena Williams has been in hot water.
Roar Guru
22nd June, 2016
3

The world’s most prestigious tennis tournament starts on Monday and once again all eyes will be on world No.1 Serena Williams.

She will continue in her attempt to equal Steffi Graf’s record of 22 Grand Slam titles and close in on Margaret Court’s all-time record of 24.

This will be the American’s third attempt to equal Graf’s record, having been shocked in the semi-finals of the US Open last September by Roberta Vinci and losing both the Australian and French Open finals earlier this year.

Out to stop her from claiming a seventh title at Wimbledon will be the likes of first-time Grand Slam champions Angelique Kerber and Garbine Muguruza, as well as former Wimbledon finalist Agnieszka Radwanska, former world number one Victoria Azarenka and recent top ten debutant Madison Keys, among others.

Here is the preview of the women’s contenders for the 2016 Wimbledon crown.

Serena Williams
Current world ranking: 1
Titles won this season to date: Rome

Wimbledon history
Best result: Won six times (2002, 2003, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2015)
Last year’s result: Won

Grand Slam results this year to date
Australian Open result: Runner-up
French Open result: Runner-up

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After what has been a relatively disappointing first half of the season, world number one Serena Williams will be hoping that a return to the All England Club will be the spark she needs to regain her best form.

It appears the American is still bearing the scars of her shock semi-final loss to Roberta Vinci at last September’s US Open, which thwarted her attempt to become the first woman since Steffi Graf in 1988 to sweep the Grand Slam calendar.

Since then the 34-year-old has lost in the finals of both the Australian and French Opens to Angelique Kerber and Garbine Muguruza respectively, and also lost in the final of Indian Wells to Victoria Azarenka in between.

However, Williams has won one title for the season, making this the tenth consecutive year in which the American has won at least one title. That came in Rome when she defeated compatriot Madison Keys in straight sets.

Now, the defending champion will enter Wimbledon not only attempting to win a record seventh title, but also maintain her grip on the world number one ranking, which is again up for grabs despite the mountainous number of points second and third seeds Muguruza and Agnieszka Radwanska must also defend.

Despite Williams’ poor form this year, I expect her to bounce back hard at SW19.

Prediction: Champion

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Garbine Muguruza
Current world ranking: 2
Titles won this season to date: French Open

Wimbledon history
Best result: Runner-up (2015)
Last year’s result: Runner-up

Grand Slam results this year to date
Australian Open result: Third round
French Open result: Champion

Having achieved her dream of winning a Grand Slam title at the French Open earlier this month, it will be interesting to see how Garbine Muguruza handles the pressure of being a Grand Slam champion.

Already Angelique Kerber appears to be struggling in the spotlight, as we are about to see below, and world number two Muguruza will be out to ensure she avoids heading down that path.

The Spaniard had a slow start to the season, losing in the third round of the Australian Open, but turned her season around during the clay court swing, reaching the semi-finals in Rome before triumphing at Roland Garros.

In her only tournament since then, Muguruza dropped her first match in Mallorca to former Wimbledon semi-finalist Kirsten Flipkens, but hopefully it won’t be a sign that she is starting to succumb to the pressure of being a Grand Slam champion, like many before her have.

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Now, the 22-year-old returns to the scene of her biggest Grand Slam breakthrough, where she stormed past the likes of Kerber, Caroline Wozniacki and Agnieszka Radwanska to reach her first major final before losing to Williams in straight sets.

It marked another milestone in her rise up the rankings, which started and finished with a victory over the American at the French Open, firstly in the second round in 2014 and of course in the final this year.

The Spaniard will have no intention of stopping there – with the world number one ranking now her next goal. Achieving that at Wimbledon this year is a possibility, but the 22-year-old would have to emulate her run to the final from last year, and hope that Williams, who is defending maximum points, suffers an early exit.

Just how far Garbine Muguruza will go at Wimbledon will be interesting, but I expect her to handle the pressure of being a Grand Slam champion well, unlike many others who have crumbled in the past.

Prediction: Semi-finals

Agnieszka Radwanska
Current world ranking: 3
Titles won this season to date: Shenzhen

Wimbledon history
Best result: Runner-up (2012)
Last year’s result: Semi-finals

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Grand Slam results this year to date
Australian Open result: Semi-finals
French Open result: Fourth round

One player who saves her best Grand Slam form for the grass courts of Wimbledon is world number three Agnieszka Radwanska.

It was at the All England Club where the Pole made her major breakthrough, becoming the first Pole ever to reach the final, where she lost to Serena Williams in three sets.

Since then the 27-year-old has failed to reach another Grand Slam final, most notably wasting two chances at Wimbledon in 2013 and 2015 when she lost winnable semi-finals against Sabine Lisicki and Garbine Muguruza respectively.

After dropping out of the world’s top ten midway through last year, the Pole has regained her best form but only has one title and a semi-final showing at the Australian Open to show for her efforts so far in 2016.

In addition she was also three games away from reaching the quarter-finals at the French Open for the second time before suffering a spectacular meltdown to lose to Tsvetana Pironkova in a rain-affected fourth round match.

But a return to the grass courts of Wimbledon might be the spark Radwanska needs if she is to reach a second Grand Slam final and possibly challenge Serena Williams for the world number one ranking.

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That being said, I expect the Pole to make a deep run to the latter stages of the tournament, as she has done in three of the last four years.

Prediction: Semi-finals

Angelique Kerber
Current world ranking: 4
Titles won this season to date: Australian Open, Stuttgart

Wimbledon history
Best result: Semi-finals (2012)
Last year’s result: Third round

Grand Slam results this year to date
Australian Open result: Champion
French Open result: First round

One player who has struggled in the spotlight after becoming a Grand Slam champion is fourth seed Angelique Kerber.

Since upsetting Serena Williams to win the Australian Open, the German’s results have been anything but disappointing, in fact she failed to win a match for nearly two months after reigning at Melbourne Park.

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The nadir of her form slump came when she dropped her first match at the French Open to unheralded Dutchwoman Kiki Bertens, who then went on to reach her first Grand Slam semi-final.

However, she was able to defend her title in Stuttgart while she also reach the semi-finals in Charleston, where she was the defending champion, before being forced to retire during her match against Sloane Stephens due to a viral illness.

Her most recent tournament saw her reach the quarter-finals of the AEGON Classic in Birmingham, where she was also the defending champion, before losing to Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro in three sets.

It will now remain to be seen whether Kerber can regain her Australian Open form at the All England Club, or whether the form slump that followed her victory in Melbourne will carry on into the third Grand Slam tournament of the year.

Prediction: Quarter-finals

Other contenders
Apart from the four players listed above, the likes of Simona Halep, Victoria Azarenka and recent top ten debutant Madison Keys will be out to make an impact at this year’s Wimbledon Championships.

Halep has had an up-and-down season so far; while she lost her first match at the Australian Open she was able to reach the fourth round at the French, losing to former finalist Samantha Stosur in straight sets.

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This came on either side of winning her second Premier Mandatory title in Madrid, where she defeated Dominika Cibulkova in the final.

After injuries derailed her clay court season, and forced her recent withdrawal from Nottingham, former world number one Victoria Azarenka will be keen to rediscover the early-season form that saw her win at Brisbane, Indian Wells and Miami, and regain a top-five ranking for the first time since 2014 (which she has since lost).

The Belarussian will have fond memories of Wimbledon as it was where she reached her first Grand Slam semi-final, in 2011. That was the precursor to her winning the 2012 Australian Open and becoming world number one afterwards.

Another player who has risen up the rankings this year is 21-year-old American Madison Keys, who became the first player from her country since Serena Williams in 1999 to crack the world’s top ten.

This came on the back of her reaching the final in Rome, where she lost to Williams, and most recently winning the title in Birmingham last week, defeating Barbora Strycova in the final.

The American will be hoping to go one better at Wimbledon this year, having reached the quarter-finals last year in addition to reaching the semi-finals of the Australian Open earlier in 2015.

Samantha Stosur and Daria Gavrilova will spearhead the Australian campaign, with the former seeded 15th, matching her current world ranking. The 32-year-old, who recently reached the semi-finals at the French Open, has reached the third round three times including last year when she lost to CoCo Vandeweghe.

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Gavrilova, meanwhile, is unseeded and most recently lost to Karolina Pliskova in the second round of the ongoing tournament in Eastbourne, where Stosur lost her first match to former world number one Caroline Wozniacki.

The only major absence in the women’s draw is Maria Sharapova, who earlier this month was handed a back-dated two-year ban from professional tennis after confessing to taking the banned drug meldonium at this year’s Australian Open.

It means that this year’s Wimbledon Championships will be missing its 2004 champion in the women’s main draw for the first time since 2002.

Wimbledon gets underway on Monday night (AEST), with defending champion Serena Williams to open her title defence on Centre Court the following day, as is tradition.

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