Thoughts on the Women's Draw

Justine Henin’s bracket: Henin has a more difficult draw than at first notice. Patty Schnyder lies waiting in the Round of 16, if she can make it that far. Schnyder has only made it to the third round once at Wimbledon (in 2001), but played well during the clay-court season and at Roland Garros. Henin holds a 7-1 record over her, but all matches on fast surfaces have gone to three sets. Henin then has Serena Williams, which could be a loss in itself. Both Williams sisters dominate in England, even without playing warm-ups. The surprise in this bracket might be Katarina Srebotnik. She has world No. 412 Elena Baltacha in the first round and likely Anna-Lena Groenfeld (who is 4-11 this year and has dropped 90 spots in the ranking since January). Her showdown will be with Serena, and Serena will probably own her. Serena and sister Venus are playing doubles this year and that will either energize or wear out the sisters. Winner of this quarterfinal is Serena, who will leave Henin winless at the All-England Club: 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Jelena Jankovic’s bracket: Jankovic is the hottest player on the WTA Tour right now, having advanced to the semis on the red clay of Paris and last week beat Maria Sharapova at Birmingham. She is also first in the race this year, but that’s inflated by her 16 tournament appearances. There aren’t any big hurdles for her until Eleni Daniilidou in the third round, who ousted Henin in the first round in ’05. Even with Daniilidou making the third round, Jankovic is too much at this point in the year, and with either a weak grass player in Anna Chakvetadze or a struggling Martina Hingis, who has already lost to Jankovic this year and who’s last title was in Tokyo in February. Jankovic goes to the semis with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Hingis.

Ameile Mauresmo’s bracket: This is the most stacked part of the draw. There’s Nadia Petrova, always a force on any surface; Francesca Schiavone, a good ball-striker who has just never had success on grass; Anabel Medina-Garrigues, who has always played well against this quarter’s favorites, Ana Ivanovic and Mauresmo. Not to mention former top 25 player Shenay Perry, Sania Mirza and No. 14-seed Nicole Vaidasova are in this bracket too. When this all filters out though, it will be either Ivanovic or Petrova, probably Ivanovic, because she’s been playing well of late, against Mauresmo. That match will be a toss up, but the defending champ will win in three sets, 7-6, 4-6, 7-5.

Maria Sharapova’s bracket: Maria has the easiest trip to the semis, as long as Venus doesn’t get in her way in the Round of 16. The top part of the bracket is filled with the likes of an inconsistent Svetlana Kuznetzova and soft-serving Elena Dementieva. So whoever wins the match between Sharapova and Venus will make the semis. In the match that matters I pick a rested Sharapova over an uninterested Venus 6-4, 6-3. Sharapova will relax after that match, though, and drop a set in a wake-up match against Kuznetzova 6-2, 5-7, 6-1.

Semifinal 1: Serena Williams has already recorded a slam this year and has taken plenty of time off to rest. She is 22-4 this year, with most of her bad losses on clay. On the other side is Jankovic, who couldn’t be in this situation at a better time. Serena owned grass for a while a few years ago, but has she been back long enough to hang in with Jankovic? Will Jankovic be fatigued after all of her playing? Can she overcome Serena’s power, placement and backhand? Jankovic will get nervous, just like she did against Henin, and although Serena won’t play her best match, she’ll do just enough to make it look close, but win comfortably, 7-5, 6-4.

Semifinal 2: An untested Sharapova will get her first real match against Mauresmo. This will mark the third time in five majors that the two will have met in the semifinals, splitting the past two as Mauresmo won on the way to the Wimbledon title last year and Sharapova won the semi and the final in New York. Sharapova will be playing her best tennis of the tournament in what should go down as a classic match. Power against power, Sharapova 7-5, 6-7, 7-5.

Final: Sharapova and Serena meet again in a rematch of this year’s Aussie Open. It looks like more of the same as Sharapova has a letdown and Serena just does what she always does, win. In a relatively unexciting match, Serena takes her third Wimbledon and her eighth Grand Slam, 6-3, 6-2.