Serena’s absence opens up race for crown

WITH Serena Williams preparing for the birth of her first child and Maria Sharapova sidelined by a thigh injury, the race to be crowned Wimbledon champion is the most wide open in a generation.

Having stepped away from the court as she waits to become a mother in September, Williams, who won Wimbledon in 2015 and last year, has created a power vacuum at the top that Sharapova was expected to fill when the Russian returned from her doping suspension.

Instead, Sharapova lasted just three tournaments before a muscle injury in Rome forced the five-time major winner to withdraw from the Wimbledon qualifying tournament.

In the absence of American great Williams, who has 23 grand slam titles on her CV, and the headline-grabbing Sharapova, women’s tennis has an undeniable lack of star power heading into Wimbledon, which gets under way today.

But the flip-side is the opportunity for the sport’s less heralded names to seize the spotlight, as Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko showed with her unexpected breakthrough triumph at the French Open.

“Of course, it’s different if Serena is not here. Everything is possible, in two weeks especially,” world No 1 Angelique Kerber said.

“There are so many good players right now, they can win the big tournaments.”

Ostapenko, 20, shot up to 13th in the world from 47th after coming from a set and 3-0 down to defeat Simona Halep in the Roland Garros final. Now she has to prove that stunning success was more than a flash in the pan.

A junior Wimbledon champion in 2014, Ostapenko’s game is well suited for the low-bouncing lawns of the All England Club.

Ostapenko, who faces Aliaksandra Sasnovich in the first round, arrived in London on a wave of post-Paris euphoria, while second seed Halep is still struggling to cope with her failure to win her first grand slam.

The 25-year-old Romanian opens her campaign against Marina Erakovic.