Here are some predictions of who will win Wimbledon:
Darren Cahill--Serena Williams
Mary Joe Fernandez--Venus Williams
Steve Tignor--Serena Williams
Greg Garber--Venus Williams
Cliff Drysdale--Serena Williams
Peter Bodo--Venus Williams
Kamakshi Tandon--Serena Williams
Simon Reed--Serena Williams
Sarah Unke--Venus Williams
Bonnie D. Ford--Kim Clijsters
Tom Perrotta--Venus Williams
Ravi Ubha--Venus Williams
Jon Wertheim--Serena Williams
wide open draw then (!) would love to see someone come from nowhere ala Schiavone.
ReplyDeleteThe women's draw has once again just how competitive the field is. It is a testament to how well Venus and Serena do at this tournament that almost everyone has picked them. I would actually prefer if nobody picked them. I think they prefer to fly under the radar here and I hope they both just play one match at a time. I am really looking forward to seeing Serena's first round match. Funnily enough someone's record is going to get broken as Serena has never lost in the first round of a major and neither has deBrito. DeBrito is noisy and feisty and it will be good to see how Serena deals with her. Man, I cannot wait for Wimbledon to start.
ReplyDeleteFor me the draw for the women is very even. If the seeds hold to form we should have some blockbuster matches in the Round of 16.
I like the draw, too, though I'm an "anything goes" person when it comes to draws.
ReplyDeleteLarcher De Brito double-faults all over the place when she isn't playing Serena in the first round of a major! She's another good, but undisciplined, hitter.
When you wish upon a star, your dreams can come true! someone out of left field just might win! you never know....
ReplyDeleteDiane, I am sure that you have seen the following article making its way around the internet and being touted as an inciteful look at women's tennis. All it does is perpetrate the myths that women do not get along in a competitive environment, and/or women are expected to get along while in a competitive environment. Not because men do it does not mean that we have to do it. Has it ever occurred to anyone that maybe one of the reasons why the women are not BFFs is because they are from so many different countries and there perhaps might be a language barrier.
ReplyDeleteIn addition to that how about the differing cultures within which each player grew up? For whats its worthy I cannot see people like Serena and Venus having much to do with young players from other countries. Serena for one is always caught up in her own world, Venus too has her hands in so many pies, Sharapova, same thing.
Reading some of the player comments you get a bit of envy and spite in their words rather than respect for the opponent and bringing competition to the courts.
Your thoughts
http://tinyurl.com/26yjsdf
Actually, I hadn't seen it, but I've seen one almost identical to it. I wish the writer had talked about how the tour used to be a much more social institution--the women were friends with one another. I don't know when it changed, or why it changed. It's as though the collective unconsciousness of the tour has bought into the belief that females aren't supposed to get along with one another.
ReplyDeleteHaving said that, I also suspect that the writer and some of her peers cherry-pick some of these incidents in order to paint a picture that is somewhat over the top. There really are women on the tour who get along and who are friends.
And Ivanovic is complaining that people care too much about how players look? Maybe not putting a virtually topless photo of herself on her website would help.
Stacey Allaster appears to be doing a good job in general, but if she's truly concerned about the sexist image the media presents of the tour, she could remove those truly horrible "we all have exactly the same face and body" 1950s "sexpot" photos from the tour website today.
And if the players really are that upset about the sexism of tour promotion and coverage, why the hell don't they do something about it?
Considering that it was like pulling (multiple) teeth to get players to even support a fellow player when she was banned from entering a country to play an event last year -- a fairly elemental issue -- it's probably too much to expect them to ever join together for any other common goal.
ReplyDeleteSadly, I agree.
ReplyDelete