Tired seeds turn Wimbledon upside down

1st July, 2008

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Pritha Sarkar

Roar Rookie

1st July, 2008

In the most unexpected Wimbledon championships on record, the mass exodus of women’s seeds showed no signs of slowing down today when Jelena Jankovic and Svetlana Kuznetsova exited the championships early.

The duo’s departure from the fourth round marked the first time since seedings were introduced in 1927 that the top four women’s seeds had fallen before the quarter-finals.

The dismal showing will once again raise concerns over burnout and a packed schedule.

Maria Sharapova, champion in 2004 and the third seed was the first to perish in the second round last Thursday.

Twenty four hours later top seed and newly-crowned French Open champion Ana Ivanovic, was toppled in round three.

Both were sent packing by opponents ranked well outside the top 100.

Once second seed Jankovic and fourth seed Kuznetsova had hotfooted it out of the grasscourt grand slam, a distinctly unfamiliar women’s quarter-final lineup was looming.

Kuznetsova, the last of the Fab Four to be slung out, had her own explanation about why the top seeds found the going tough at this year’s championships.

“For me grass court is very tough to get used to and nobody has time to get used to it after the French Open,” said the Russian, who was a semi-finalist at Roland Garros earlier this month.

“It’s extremely tough for me. I was suffering so much my first match. And none of other (front runners) went to play (at the warm-up events) one week before Wimbledon, because everybody needs a rest.

“The season is too long. It’s no way from French Open to get in good shape for Wimbledon.

“You have to get prepared extremely well and be extremely lucky in first rounds to get through and then get better…You have to battle through or you need a bit luck. So I think it’s because of this everybody’s out.”

The governing body of women’s tennis, the WTA, has made plans to shorten the season from 2009, trimming the current 25 Tier I and II events down to 20.
For some, the move cannot come soon enough.

Among the four top women’s seeds at Wimbledon, only Sharapova had not reached at least the semi-finals in Paris.

With just two week between the clay and grasscourt major, none of the Wimbledon title contenders turned up for any of the traditional warm-up tournaments in Birmingham, Eastbourne or Den Bosch.

After citing injury, fatigue or a string of other ailments for their late withdrawals from the events in England and the Netherlands, the lack of grasscourt practice appears to have contributed towards their early downfall at Wimbledon.

It is little surprise, then, that the favourites for the title are now the experienced Williams sisters, Venus and Serena, whose style and power are so well adapted to grass.

Both headed home to the United States after losing in the third round of the French Open and showed up at Wimbledon, rested, refreshed and hungry for success.

Both stuck to their tried and tested formula of not playing in any grasscourt events in the run-up to Wimbledon, and unlike their rivals, it has done them no harm.

Between them, they have won six singles titles at Wimbledon since 2000 and are hurtling towards another family final on Saturday.

Fans can now look forward to quarter-final tussles between world number 133 Zheng Jie and Czech Nicole Vaidisova; Polish teenager Agnieszka Radwanska and Serena; Elena Dementieva, at five the highest seed left, and fellow Russian Nadia Petrova; and Venus and Thailand’s Tamarine Tanasugarn.

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