The Championships are upon us again and seeing as qualifying has started thought we might as well get this thread going.
All things considered it is looking like an interesting tournament in both draws. Federer is in good form again and will definitely be looking to win here again. Nadal will be looking to go back to back, while a lot of eyes will be on Djokovic to see if he can continue his incredible form this year. As always there will be strong media interest in the UK in Murray. Berdych has final points to defend. but has not been in the best form so doubt he will make it that far again. Will one of the big hitters in Del Po, Soderling, Troicki make a surprise semi? As has been the case for the last few years, the top 4 players will be the players to watch and I'm sure one of them will be holding the trophy at the end. Looking forward to the draw to see what side Fed falls on.
The sisters are back and even though she hasn't played a tournament in a year, Serena is favourite to win the tournament. It really shows the lack of a real number 1 player at the moment. Wozniacki will probably do reasonably well, but not win, Zvonereva has final points to defend, it is not Kim's best surface and she has hardly played, can't see Schiavone doing much here. But the one to watch for me is Li Na. She has made 2 QF previously at Wimbledon, but she is playing the best tennis of her career and I expect her to do good things here. You can also never rule out Venus, who has won I think 5 titles at SW19. She has also been out a while, but if she can find her serve and forehand, she will be hard to beat.
What does everyone think about the seedings for the women? I think that Venus and Serena will get good seedings, most likely in the top 16.
Looking at the Australian contingent, for the first time that I can ever recall, we do not have a male inside the top 100. However Lleyton loves this tournament and if he can get a reasonable draw, could easily make a 4th round. He is our only direct entry into the tournament, but we have a number of players who are a good chance to make the main draw playing in qualifying now. Stosur and Gajdisova are our 2 best chances to make it through a few rounds, but we cannot rely on either to do that well. Stosur lost in the first round here last year so at least she has no pressure of defending points. But she has never made it past the 3rd round on the grass and that trend will probably continue this year.
Winners in the first round of qualifying in the mens: Tomic, Ebden, Guccione, Matosevic, Jones
Losers in the first round: Luczak, Ball, Lemke, Millman
It looks like we will also have some fantastic coverage this year. Fox Sports are sending a big team over to cover the tournament so expect very good coverage from them. Channel 7 are the new kids on the block for Wimbledon coverage and will be showing tennis on the digital channel, 72, as well as their main channel.
Cannot wait for Monday.
All things considered it is looking like an interesting tournament in both draws. Federer is in good form again and will definitely be looking to win here again. Nadal will be looking to go back to back, while a lot of eyes will be on Djokovic to see if he can continue his incredible form this year. As always there will be strong media interest in the UK in Murray. Berdych has final points to defend. but has not been in the best form so doubt he will make it that far again. Will one of the big hitters in Del Po, Soderling, Troicki make a surprise semi? As has been the case for the last few years, the top 4 players will be the players to watch and I'm sure one of them will be holding the trophy at the end. Looking forward to the draw to see what side Fed falls on.
The sisters are back and even though she hasn't played a tournament in a year, Serena is favourite to win the tournament. It really shows the lack of a real number 1 player at the moment. Wozniacki will probably do reasonably well, but not win, Zvonereva has final points to defend, it is not Kim's best surface and she has hardly played, can't see Schiavone doing much here. But the one to watch for me is Li Na. She has made 2 QF previously at Wimbledon, but she is playing the best tennis of her career and I expect her to do good things here. You can also never rule out Venus, who has won I think 5 titles at SW19. She has also been out a while, but if she can find her serve and forehand, she will be hard to beat.
What does everyone think about the seedings for the women? I think that Venus and Serena will get good seedings, most likely in the top 16.
Looking at the Australian contingent, for the first time that I can ever recall, we do not have a male inside the top 100. However Lleyton loves this tournament and if he can get a reasonable draw, could easily make a 4th round. He is our only direct entry into the tournament, but we have a number of players who are a good chance to make the main draw playing in qualifying now. Stosur and Gajdisova are our 2 best chances to make it through a few rounds, but we cannot rely on either to do that well. Stosur lost in the first round here last year so at least she has no pressure of defending points. But she has never made it past the 3rd round on the grass and that trend will probably continue this year.
Winners in the first round of qualifying in the mens: Tomic, Ebden, Guccione, Matosevic, Jones
Losers in the first round: Luczak, Ball, Lemke, Millman
It looks like we will also have some fantastic coverage this year. Fox Sports are sending a big team over to cover the tournament so expect very good coverage from them. Channel 7 are the new kids on the block for Wimbledon coverage and will be showing tennis on the digital channel, 72, as well as their main channel.
Cannot wait for Monday.
