More than 15 contenders on every surface among Ladies
There was a lot of talk about how losses of favorites in first rounds of Wimbledon in Ladies draw impact the quality of the tournament. There was no top 10 seed left in a draw in quarterfinals.
Tennis Column is irregular and biased opinion column written by Tennis Pro Guru about everything tennis related.
Well, at first sight, it looks dramatically bad. At second sight, you will see it is just the detail. Semifinal matches were played by Kerber (seed no. 11), Ostapenko (no.12), Serena Williams (no.28) and Julia Gorges (no.13). So in reality, there were three players just close to the top 10 and Serena Williams. Yes, Serena who should not be seeded at all, but who is remarkably one of the best players at the WTA tour (or the best one). So even with missing top 10 women, you still get pretty remarkable set of players. Nobody should dare to say that it was a weak semifinal setup.
I would say that anybody out of top 50 can win WTA tournament and anybody out of top 20 can win Grand Slam. Nobody can argue that Ostapenko or Kerber did deserve the spot in the semifinal and their participation definitely do not drag the quality of Wimbledon lower. Absolutely no way. They both already won a Grand Slam event and the fact they are outside of top 10 is just another proof how competitive WTA tour is these days. I just enjoy the situation when you have 15+ strong contenders for Grand Slam win. It is a win-win situation for tennis and fans. Watching the quarterfinals and semifinals was really entertaining. So please, do not evaluate the event by the numbers, but look also at the names.
No more one-man show among men
Men’s tennis was in a different spot before the tournament. Everybody was clear that Federer will dominate the event and question before the start was who will be beaten in final by him. Things turned quickly with the superb performance by Anderson in quarterfinals.
Federer dominance and superiority is clear, but still, he cannot win everything. Fortunately, there are enough contenders who can challenge him (and Nadal on clay) during a season. The range of contenders is not so wide as in women’s tennis, but still wide enough to make any event competitive and interesting.
Moreover, Djokovic is reviving his career in the best possible way. Thiem and Zverev showed their competence on clay. DelPotro and Cilic will throw everything they can on US Open success. And you definitely should be impressed with a tennis Anderson and Isner are playing in Wimbledon. Add Nadal and Federer and you have 9 names who can win any tournament. So no more one-man show in men’s tennis but pretty open competition.
Let’s move to US Open and tell us your preference for the winner of the singles draw here
Share this:
