Wimbledon 2018 Preview – Women’s Draw
Wimbledon 2018 Preview
Seven different winners in the last 7 Grand Slams for the women tells its own story in what is an extremely open tournament. ‘A’ Williams has won Wimbledon 12 times in the last eighteen years so it would be foolish to rule Venus or Serena out but you could pull any name from the top 20 out of a hat and you’d be on to a realistic winner.
Women’s Draw
Sometimes you can’t do right for doing wrong and the seedings for the women’s tournament have caused quite a stir. The Grand Slams on the women’s side have more discretion than the men’s and as a result Serena Williams is in at number 25. Dominika Cibulkova, who has paid the price for this as she would have been 32nd seed, clearly thinks this is unfair as her draw will be unquestionably harder now. The same applies to her first round opponent.
While I’ve said it would be foolish to rule Venus or Serena out of things I’ve decided to do it anyway! Venus made the finals at Wimbledon and Australia in 2017 but has two first round Grand Slam exits to her name in 2018. Serena, unlike Andy Murray, has at least played at Roland Garros, but withdrew when due to face Sharapova and hasn’t played since. She was clearly not fighting fit then and the injury casts more doubt over her chances, whether seeded or not.
The Contenders
Current holder Garbine Muguruza is just behind Serena in the betting and obviously needs to be respected. Petra Kvitova is the favourite and probably would be the pick but her withdrawal from Eastbourne is a potential concern, assuming that she genuinely has a hamstring problem. I’m therefore going to side with Simona Halep who should be freed up to go on a run having finally banked a Grand Slam title in Paris.
There are a number of interesting looking long shots including former finalists in Agnieszka Radwanska and Eugenie Bouchard. Radwanska missed the French Open due to injury but she’s come back firing at Eastbourne this week in preparation for the Grand Slam event where’s had most joy.
Can Bouchard focus on the Court?
Bouchard is often accused of concentrating too much on her off-court activities but has stormed through the qualifiers, obviously enjoying being back on grass. If she can recapture the 2014 form of three Grand Slam semi-finals then the 250/1 might well be for you, a big IF but that’s reflected in the odds. That Wimbledon run included straight sets wins over Kerber and Halep, both of whom have subsequently become world number one and earned Grand Slam titles.
