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The tennis equivalent of The Masters in golf gets underway on Monday, June 24, 2013, Wimbledon, The Championships at the All England Lawn and Racquet Club. This year has some interesting side story lines, some of which got going with soap opera like drama. Maria Sharapova (the #3 seed) and Serena Williams (the #1 seed and overwhelming favorite) have had a bit of a “girl fight” kind of tit for tat thing going on in the media prior to the start of play. Has been rather trashy overall as far as I am concerned. Seems like Serena made some comments in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine referencing the “love life” of another top five player. The assumption was made that she was referring to Sharapova. Well, was she? Who knows? Anyhow, Sharapova decided to take a few shots in her pre-Wimbledon press interview, then later, Serena attempted to tone things down by explaining that she had personally apologized to Maria at the players’ dinner and that she had learned to never assume that the media has gotten the story correctly. So, was she saying the comments in the interview were not about Sharapova? Oh well, who cares? I do not care for Sharapova, never have, but Serena has had her moments on the court that have been hugely offensive. Off the court, I have never really heard much about Serena as she does try to keep her private life just that, private. At the end of the day, we will assume these two have at the very least declared a “truce”, and it is time to play tennis. As mentioned earlier, Serena is seeded #1 and is the huge favorite, Victoria Azarenka is seeded #2 and Sharapova #3. Could be an interesting semifinal match if Serena and Maria make it to that point. Williams has owned Sharapova as of late.
Moving to the men’s draw, WOW, what a lopsided draw it is. Due to the current ATP rankings, the seedings are a bit questionable, but they are in line with the current rankings. Novak Djokovic is #1, Andy Murray #2, Roger Federer (the defending champion and winner of 7 Wimbledon titles) is #3, David Ferrer is #4, and Rafael Nadal (the hottest player on the tour so far this year) is #5. Rafa is seeded in the 5th slot largely due to the time he was away from the game due to his knee injury. Still, it does make things difficult. If things were to go as we all hope they do, we could actually have a Roger Federer vs. Rafael Nadal quarterfinal at Wimbledon. Then, the winner would perhaps have to go on to face second seeded Andy Murray in the semifinal before moving onto to the likely contest against world #1 Djokovic in the final. Heck of a tall order for either Federer, attempting to win his record setting (when is anything Roger does not record setting?) 8th Wimbledon title, or Rafael Nadal should such a scenario indeed play out.
At any rate, Djokovic definitely gets the easier draw and action gets underway tomorrow with live coverage beginning at 7:00 am EST on ESPN. Roger Federer will start the day’s action on Centre Court against Victor Hanescu (a honor reserved for the defending men’s titleholder) and Rafa Nadal, Andy Murray and Maria Sharapova will also be in action.
Stay tuned…let’s hope for good weather and some fantastic tennis as always at The Championships!
