Stars must shine in Cup shadow
There’s Wimbledon seen through the lens of an international tennis observer, and there’s Wimbledon through the lens of a Canadian fan.
As recently as three years ago, the two offered similar perspectives at a time when both Milos Raonic and Eugenie Bouchard were regarded as serious threats to win the world’s most important tennis competition. Bouchard made it to the final in 2014, while Raonic was a finalist in 2016.
That was then, however, and this is now. Raonic goes into Wimbledon this week seeded 13th mostly by the grace of the organizers, who opted to ignore his ATP ranking of No. 32 as they reserve the right to do in order to produce a “balanced draw.” His seeding hasn’t been nearly as controversial as that of seven-time women’s champion Serena Williams, who is ranked No. 183 in the world but received the 25th position at Wimbledon.
Raonic’s inability in recent months to stay healthy and active for any extended period now makes him a long shot to get to the second week, let alone win the event. A good result on the grass in Stuttgart two weeks ago, losing to Roger Federer in the final, was encouraging.
Bouchard, meanwhile, has fallen much further than Raonic, all the way out of the top 100. She had to fight her way through qualifying last week just to get into the main draw — which, let’s face it, is what serves as a major success for Bouchard these days. She gets youngster Gabriella Taylor of Britain in the first round.
So the larger Wimbledon story and the Canadian story don’t intersect quite as readily any more, at least not this year. That could change depending on the results, of course, and the likeliest Canadian to make that happen would be 19-yearold Denis Shapovalov, the Tel Aviv-born teenager who grew up in Thornhill and has been anointed by the likes of Rod Laver and John McEnroe as the player to watch on the ATP tour.
“I feel like he’s certainly going to reach the top if he continues with the attitude he’s got,” said the 79-year-old Laver last week.
Shapovalov is the 26th seed and opens against French veteran Jeremy Chardy. The Canadian is looking for a better Grand Slam result than he was able to produce at either the Australian Open or Roland Garros this season — out in the round of 64 in both — after a nice run to the fourth round of the U.S. Open last year.
The heavyweight tennis tournament is looking to create headlines at the same time the World Cup is getting to the most interesting stages. England, sure to be the focus of coverage by the London media as long as it’s alive, is among the final 16 teams and plays Colombia on Tuesday.
The World Cup final is July 15, the same day as the Wimbledon men’s final, so it’s going to be a major challenge for tennis to snatch attention away from soccer over the next two weeks — even moreso with Andy Murray, the man who ended Britain’s Wimbledon title drought in 2013, pulling out of the tournament on Sunday. Here are the three storylines most likely to grab attention: SERENA’S SEEDING: The women’s tour is abuzz over the preferential treatment given to Williams, who wasn’t seeded at the French Open in May. Getting the No. 25 spot basically means she won’t have to face a seeded player in the first two rounds. “I think it’s just not fair,” said Dominika Cibulkova, ranked No. 32 in the world but bumped out of the seedings by Williams, who gave birth to her first child in September and hasn’t played since pulling out of a much-anticipated match with Maria Sharapova at the French Open because of injury. It’s unclear what her match fitness is for the All England Club. Meanwhile, with Caroline Wozniacki winning her first major in Melbourne this year and Simona Halep breaking through with her first at Roland Garros, there are more women with the credentials to take on Williams this year. DJOKOVIC’S RESURRECTION: At one point, it appeared Novak Djokovic was taking dead aim at overtaking Federer for the most Grand Slam titles in the history of men’s tennis. Between 2015 and 2016, he won five out of six majors and looked unbeatable. But then came injuries and defeats, lots of them, and Djokovic isn’t even a top-10 player now. But he had some good results in the clay season, seems healthier and the Serb got to the final of the Queen’s Club grass event last week, losing to Marin Cilic. He’s won Wimbledon three times, and it could be this is the tournament that will vault him back into the upper echelon of the men’s tour. FEDERER-NADAL: This summer marks the 10th anniversary of the famous Wimbledon final match between the Swiss and the Spaniard, a thrilling marathon contest widely regarded as the greatest match ever played. There’s even a new documentary out entitled Strokes of Genius dedicated to that epic five-set match, won by Rafael Nadal. Federer won the Australian Open in January and then disappeared from mid-March until June, skipping the claycourt season that Nadal dominated, including winning his 11th French Open title. Nadal is ranked No. 1 in the world, Federer No. 2. All-time, Federer and Nadal have played 38 times with Nadal winning 23 of those. Federer, however, has won the last five. Another Federer-Nadal clash for all the marbles, then, is the match that could make Wimbledon 2018 special. And possibly peel a few eyeballs away from the footy in Russia.
Damien Cox‘ s column normally appears Tuesday and Saturday.