Maria Sharapova looked impressive in her French Open win a week ago. Even more impressive is Serena Williams, can she win her sixth Wimbledon during these next two weeks?
John McEnroe, along with Chris Evert did a conference call for the media this week, previewing ESPN’s coverage of the entire Wimbledon tournament. Play begins in London Monday, and runs for a fortnight- ending July 6th.
Here’s how they assessed the women’s field, as well as the chances for both Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams.
Q. Could you assess the women’s side at Wimbledon, particularly Maria Sharapova 10 years after her victory. Can she do it again this year?
EVERT: I think it’s going to be an interesting tournament for Serena. I think there’s going to be a lot of pressure on her because she did not do well in the last two Grand Slams, pretty much had bad losses. I think all eyes are going to be on how she’s doing. If she can get through the first week, that’s going to be the big thing. Once she gets through the first week, gets the ball rolling, gets more comfortable on the grass, she’ll be unbeatable.
She has one thing no other woman player has, she has the serve. She’s walking on the court 2-Love or 3-Love already. If the serve is going, the grass is custom made for her. It frees her up to go for the returns. She’s athletic, she moves well, she stays down low on the grass. She’s the best grass court player in my mind right now.
As far as Maria, if she can do a double, the French and Wimbledon, that would be the greatest year she’ll ever have in her life. That would be an incredible feat for her. Number one, is she going to have a letdown after winning the French? Number two, remember all the slipping and sliding, the problems she had last year. Footing is a big problem with her. She’s so tall, she can’t get down low for the ball, she doesn’t have that secure footing. The movement on the grass is going to be key for her, as well as her first serve. It can go all over the place or she can serve aces. Sharapova, there’s a question mark. But as far as confidence level, you’ve got to give that to her. But I’m still favoring Serena a little bit. With Halep, Kvitova, Bouchard, ones who can do some damage also.
McENROE: I pretty much agree with what Chrissie said. She’s absolutely right. Serena’s game is very much made for the grass. Maria I never would have thought would have become arguably a better clay court player than any other surface. I really respect the effort she’s put forth to become that good and be able to win the French twice, a second time before any other major.
I think what Chrissie said earlier about the footwork, the movement, in the beginning it’s going to be tougher for Maria to get through the first week. If she does, she’ll be able to sort of feel more comfortable with her movement.
After that, it obviously becomes much more of a crapshoot. The bigger hitters, Kvitova won it because she can do damage with one shot. It becomes harder for players that rely on getting a lot of balls back. It’s tougher to win a tournament like that. Or if they have liabilities with their serve… Certainly if Serena and Maria don’t do well, it’s going to be much more difficult to pick who it would be after that.
During the conference call I asked John McEnroe about the Wimbledon chances of Daniela Hantuchova, as well as the chances of Caroline Wozniacki and Ana Ivanovic. Click their names where highlighted to see what he had to say about their prospects of winning.
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