Now for the mother of all battles . . .
● Garbine Muguruza is the reigning Wimbledon champion, but most eyes will be on Serena Williams when the American begins her mission to snatch back the title she believes she owns. The 36-year-old Williams has not lost on the London lawns since she was upset by France’s Alize Cornet in 2014, winning the 2015 and 2016 titles to swell her Wimbledon tally to seven, two behind professional-era leader Martina Navratilova.
She watched on from afar last year as she prepared to give birth to daughter Alexis Olympia in September.
She admits her return to competitive action has not been easy, but she has been practising hard on grass and few would bet against her becoming the first mother to win the title since Evonne Cawley 38 years ago.
Should she achieve that feat she would equal Margaret Court’s record of 23 grand slams, though not all of Australian Court’s were claimed during the professional era.
Williams has played only seven matches since returning to the tour but there were signs at the French Open, where she was not seeded but reached the fourth round before withdrawing with a pectoral injury, that she was moving in the right direction.
Williams slayer Muguruza
Her Wimbledon hopes have been boosted by the seedings committee, who installed her as 25th seed in Friday’s draw which paired her with lowly ranked Dutchwoman Arantxa Rus.
Muguruza’s game could be modelled on Serena’s, as she showed last year when overpowering Venus Williams in the final to become the first player to beat both Williams sisters in grand slam finals, having downed Serena at the 2016 French Open.
She is seeded three at Wimbledon, behind world No 1 Simona Halep and Caroline Wozniacki who have shared the year’s two grand slam titles to date with maiden triumphs.
Halep, who finally got over the line at the French Open this month, will be full of confidence, as will Wozniacki after a strong run on the lawns of Eastbourne this week.
Twice Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova will also be one to watch, as will 2004 champion Maria Sharapova, who is back at the event where she made her name having missed the last two because of a doping ban and then an injury. — Reuters