PREVIEW: The Championships Wimbledon

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June 26 - July 9, 2006
Grand Slam
Wimbledon, England
2005 Results: (14) Venus Williams d. (1) Lindsay Davenport 4-6, 7-6 (4), 9-7

The Championships at Wimbledon begins on June 26, 2006 and will be featuring the most talented ladies on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour. Last year’s defending champion Venus Williams will be looking to continue the Williams Sisters’ dynasty at the All-England Club, but she will have to face a talented field that includes current world number one and 2006 Australian Open champion Amelie Mauresmo, 2005 US Open champion Kim Clijsters, 2006 Roland Garros champion Justine Henin-Hardenne, 2004 Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova, and Roland Garros finalist Svetlana Kuznetsova.

As a Grand Slam event, the Championships at Wimbledon has a main draw of 128 singles players and sixty-four doubles teams.

Top Ten Seeds:

1. Amelie Mauresmo
2. Kim Clijsters
3. Justine Henin-Hardenne
4. Maria Sharapova
5. Svetlana Kuznetsova
6. Venus Williams
7. Elena Dementieva
8. Patty Schnyder
9. Anastasia Myskina
10. Nicole Vaidisova

Early Matches to Follow:

First round match between Vera Zvonareva and (2) Kim Clijsters
Kim Clijsters should have no problem getting past Vera Zvonareva, even if she did win the title at the DFS Classic earlier this month. Clijsters and Zvonareva met last week at the Hastings Direct International Championships, but Zvonareva retired after just three games with a injured right Achilles. It is hard to imagine that she is back to 100% already and this should be a quick first round match for the second seed.

First round match between Romina Oprandi and (5) Svetlana Kuznetsova
Young Italian-Swiss player Romina Oprandi became a tennis star in Italy at the Internazionali d’Italia in May, when she made the quarterfinals after qualifying for the Tier I event. Ironically, Oprandi’s run was finally ended in the quarterfinals by Svetlana Kuznetsova in three close sets. I do not expect to see Kuznetsova knocked out, but it should be an interesting match.

First round match between Sania Mirza and (7) Elena Dementieva
If there is going to be a first round upset for one of the top seeds, I think that this will be the match to watch. Dementieva has never been consistent at Wimbledon, and although Sania Mirza has not had a great 2006 season, she may be able to attack Dementieva’s flaky serve and knock-out the seventh seed.

More Pre-Tournament Coverage from On the Baseline:

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Wimbledon Information Online:

Official Championships Wimbledon Website
Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Tournament Profile
Main Draw
Television Listings
Wimbledon LIVE! (live video and radio)

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