Wimbledon is the oldest tennis tournament in the world, and widely considered to be the most prestigious. The very first Wimbledon Championships were held in 1877 in front of only 200 people. Today Wimbledon receives huge viewing figures and attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors. This year’s competitors will receive £34 million in total prize money.
Men’s Singles
Roger Federer won his eighth men’s singles title last year and the Swiss legend also became the second ever player in the Open Era to win a Grand Slam title without dropping a set at Wimbledon last year.
In recent years, four big tennis names automatically come to mind – Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Rafael Nadal and Federer.
Federer is a solid contender to win the Wimbledon title again this year, despite his age (37). Normally his biggest challenge would come in the form of crowd favourite, Andy Murray, but his long spell out of the game with injuries since the Wimbledon quarter finals last year will hamper his chances.
Rafael Nadal’s return to form has been rather up and down and he doesn’t have a very good record at Wimbledon. The Spaniard hasn’t made it past the fourth round since 2011 and recently had to retire in the quarter-final at the Australian Open.
Novak Djokovic has been an outstanding player in SW19, having won the tournament on three occasions and will undoubtedly be one to beat, despite his indifferent form including a defeat to Britain’s Kyle Edmund at the Madrid Masters in May .
Other than these four, Alexander Zverev is an outsider who could be a threat with his agility and big serving ability.
Ladies’ Singles
The Ladies’ is less clear cut. 2017 saw Garbine Muguruza win her first title and despite not being as dominant a force as they once were the Williams sisters are still up there. Venus reached last year’s final and Serena holds the record with 23 major trophies, an Open Era record across both male and female players. She is second on the all-time list behind Margaret Court’s 24 Slams.
World number one, Romania’s Simona Halep can’t be ignored and then there is the challenge of Caroline Wozniacki now that she has won the first Grand Slam title of her career, at the Australian Open.
Germany’s Angelique Kerber was ranked number one at the All England Club in 2017 while the Czech Republic’s Karolina Pliskova and Ukraine’s Elina Svlitolina will be in contention and not forgetting Eastbourne’s Johanna Konta, of course. The outsider could come in the form of 18-year-old Naomi Osaka from Japan, who earlier this year had climbed to world number twenty-one in the world rankings.
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