Who Will Take Serena's Crown at Wimbledon?
When Serena Williams accidentally announced her pregnancy on Snapchat, her peers and fans were quick to congratulate her, but once the dust settled and it settled rather quickly, people started doing the math and realized that she was, in fact, pregnant when she defeated Venus in the Australian Open. They also very quickly realized that this blew the lid open on the possibilities for the remaining tennis majors of the year. The French Open came first.
We were all blown away by the virtually unknown Jelena Ostapenko who came out of nowhere to claim her first title in the French Open. If you managed to pick the unseeded Latvian as your winner in Paris, then we tip our hat off to you because no one could have predicted that. But what about the biggest grand slam of them all? The biggest trophy in tennis: Wimbledon.
Many feel that with Venus Williams making a bit of a comeback to reach her first grand slam final since losing out to Serena at Wimbledon in 2009, the elder Williams is on the crest of a wave. And with Serena out of the most historic tennis tournament, who else could take the title that was seemingly meant for the younger Williams?
Bookies are offering odds of 14/1 for Ostapenko to lift the Venus Rosewater Dish in center court. They're not bad odds, but we're not quite sure that she'll be able to pull off another unexpected win as she did in Paris. The fact that she won the Wimbledon Girls' Singles tournament in 2014, combined with her confidence, which is surely at an all-time high right now, must have her in a good stead. But we just can’t see her going all the way.
Venus, on the other hand, went out in the last 16 at Roland Garros, but Wimbledon will be an entirely different matter. For starters, it’s not clay, and secondly, Venus has history there. At the risk of regurgitating a tired old sporting cliché, there’s not many that will want this win more than Venus.
We would have liked to have chosen Maria Sharapova as our outside pick for the title, but her rather unfortunate thigh injury means she’ll have to wait another year for a shot at the title she won in 2004.
Madison Keys looks like a good pick, too, as she has been in and around the quarters and last 16 of late. Although her game is best suited for grass, she is playing well this year. As for Petra Kvitova, the Czech is a two-time Wimbledon champion and is nearing full fitness after the knife attack that sidelined her over Christmas. There is no doubt that if she makes it through the first rounds, she’ll be a favorite for the final.
If we’re looking at form, then we’d have to go with Ostapenko just for the blistering tournament she played in Roland Garros. Could it be that we’re about to witness the birth of another court legend?
Overall though, we must say that Venus Williams looks like the pick of the bunch. She’s playing good tennis this year and will have the added motivation that this may be her last opportunity to add to her Wimbledon tally of five titles. And with Serena out on pregnancy leave, this is looking like it’s Venus’ year at Wimbledon.
