Wimbledon 2017: Kerber, Halep, Pliskova and more compete for glory and No1

Angelique Kerber could concede the top spot to one of four other women competing for the Wimbledon title this year

By Marianne Bevis at Wimbledon
Saturday 1 July 2017, 18:13 UK

Angelique Kerber is the top seed at Wimbledon Photo: Dubai Duty Free Championships

This year’s Wimbledon has become something of a pivotal moment in the season for both the best men and the best women in tennis.

It is more than noteworthy that no fewer than three men can challenge top seed Andy Murray for the No1 ranking by the end of the Championships—perhaps even more so because none of those four is the No3 seed, Roger Federer, who is many pundits’ favourite to win his eighth title.

But when it comes to the women’s draw, the story is even more exceptional. Having survived a challenge to her No1 ranking in Eastbourne this week, Angelique Kerber could concede the top spot to one of four other women—and that is without the defending and seven-time champion Serena Williams, who Kerber halted after an unbroken three and a half years at the top at the US Open last September. She is absent from the tour as she expects her first child.

So can Kerber hold off the chasing pack?

Kerber’s task is a mighty one: As a finalist here last year, she has big points to defend, while the likes of Karolina Pliskova, Caroline Wozniacki and Elina Svitolina all lost early last year. And there is no getting away from the fact that the German has struggled for consistency this season: She boasts just one final, in Monterrey.

It is, in fact, the leader of the Race to Singapore, world No2 Simona Halep, who has been the form player of recent months, and has been on Kerber’s tail since she surged through the clay season to win Madrid and make the final of Rome and Roland Garros. A win in Paris would have done the job, but that did not take account of the exciting rise of the teen-turned-20-year-old Jelena Ostapenko to the top table.

Halep will need to replicate her quarter-final run of last year, and she is a former semi-finalist at the All England Club, and while grass is not her most successful environment, she has a decent draw to that stage.

However, Pliskova, who arrives with victory in Eastbourne this weekend, looks the more dangerous prospect. Her big game took her to the Nottingham title last year, though she has yet to get beyond the second round at Wimbledon. It so happens that she and runner-up Wozniacki are drawn to meet in the quarters in London, too.

Konta concerns

Briton Johanna Konta, ranked No7 this week, has also been among the favourites for a strong run at Wimbledon, and after a lack-lustre clay season, she went for the full set of grass tournaments in preparation for her Wimbledon assault. It bore fruit, too, with a final run in Nottingham and what looked like another good showing at her home event in Eastbourne, where she beat first Ostapenko and then Kerber.

However, a heavy fall as she closed out that quarter-final win not only gave her a sore head but a bruised back, and she withdrew from her scheduled semi against Pliskova.

If she makes it to the All England Club, she will hope to make her first big breakthrough, having already done so at the Australian Open—with semi- and quarter-final runs—and to a lesser extent at the US Open, where she has made the fourth round for the last two years.

At Wimbledon, however, she has won just a single match in five main-draw appearances—last year. What’s more, her opening match pitches her against Su-Wei Hsieh, who beat Konta in the first round at the French Open.

In another unfortunate twist, the Briton could then meet Donna Vekic, who beat her in the Nottingham final, and in a last blow, she is drawn to face Petra Kvitova in the fourth round.

The return of Kvitova—and Azarenka

The popular Kvitova is one of only two former champions in the draw this year with Venus Williams.

The two-time titlist is seeded No11 after being absent from the tour since last December following a stabbing to her playing left hand. Determined to appear at her favourite tournament on her favourite surface, she accelerated her return to competition with a surprise entry at the French followed by a remarkable title-run in Birmingham.

Perhaps wisely, she pulled out of Eastbourne, citing an abdominal strain, and will not have it easy at Wimbledon, though she will surely hope to make the second week and a possible date with Konta. To make the semis, she is likely to face Halep, and to reach the final, it could be a showdown with Williams or Svitolina, a four-time titlist this year. But if Kvitova made it all the way to the final, there would be few who did not cheer.

Also returning is Victoria Azarenka, who had a baby six months ago. Unseeded she may be, but none of the 32 who are seeded will want to find her in their section: She has two semis and two further quarters to her name here.

However, she has only one match-win under her belt ahead of Wimbledon, in Majorca, and opens against the talented youngster, Kiki Bellis, who made the semis there. The winner goes on to meet Elena Vesnina, a semi-finalist here last year, and whoever makes the fourth round is likely to face Halep.

Williams brings age and experience, Ostapenko youth and fearlessness

The oldest of the 18 players in the main draw who aged over 30 is five-time champion Venus Williams, who is playing for the 20th time at Wimbledon.

She is 37, yet reached the final in Australia—eventually beaten by her sister—and made the quarters and semis in Indian Wells and Miami, followed by the quarters in Rome. But on her favourite surface, she has played not a match coming into Wimbledon.

With the wisdom to pace herself, with her sister missing, and with a decent draw—Dominika Cibulkova is the highest seed before the quarters—it would surprise no-one if she made the semis, just as she did last year.

In the way of a possible last-four run is the fast-rising Ostapenko, seeded here for the first time after her Roland Garros victory. She departed from Paris with the assertion that she loves the grass—she was, after all, the junior Wimbledon champion in 2014—and her all-court power game should suit the surface perfectly.

Hers is not an easy segment, though she does not lack for confidence: Madison Keys, in the third round, is a former quarter-finalist, and Svitolina lurks in the fourth round, though Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, now age 35, was a semi-finalist here as a teenager, and after difficult years away from the tour, has made a welcome return to the upper ranks. She even made the semis of the Australian Open for the first time six months ago.

Dangers in the top quarter: Radwanska, Muguruza, Kuznetsova

Agnieszka Radwanska and Garbine Muguruza have both struggled with form this season, but both have made an impression at Wimbledon in the past.

The nimble Pole is a former finalist, and twice a semi-finalist too, with a 39-11 record—her best among the four Majors. Injury has hit her this year, and she lost the first match in her only warm-up event in Eastbourne. So her opener here could make or break her: it will be against the unseeded Jelena Jankovic playing her 14th Wimbledon.

Muguruza is also a former finalist, but her confidence has fallen away with repeated losses—including another in her opener in Eastbourne this week. And there are some dangerous non-seeds in her section ahead of Kerber or Lucie Safarova, who is another former semi-finalist here.

Svetlana Kuznetsova, one of a handful of Grand Slam champions in the draw, impressed at Indian Wells and Madrid, and while Wimbledon has not been her happiest hunting ground, the 32-year-old could just make a run through a relatively decent early draw.

Previous Wimbledon champions and finalists in draw

Champions: Venus Williams (five times), Kvitova (twice)

Finalists: Radwanska, Muguruza, Kerber, Sabine Lisicki, Eugenie Bouchard

First-round matches to catch

Radwanska vs Jankovic; Cibulkova vs Petkovic; Konjuh vs Lisicki; Lucic-Baroni vs Witthoeft; Konta vs Hsieh; Azarenka vs Bellis; Suarez Navarro vs Bouchard

Brits in the draw [NB none plays a top-50 opponent in opening round]

No6 Konta plays Hsieh

WC Naomi Broady plays Irina-Camelia Begu

WC Heather Watson plays Maryna Zanevska

WC Laura Robson plays Beatriz Haddad Maia

WC Katie Boulter plays Christina McHale.