JUST A HANDFUL of women have dominated Wimbledon in the past four decades. Serena Williams and Steffi Graf each won the tournament seven times; Martina Navratilova claimed the title nine times. But as Ms Williams approaches her 40th birthday, nobody else appears able to dominate the game in the same way. Five other women have prevailed at the All England Lawn Tennis Club since 2013, none of them twice. The field at this year’s event, which begins on June 28th, is deeper than ever.
Even that long list of former grand-slam quarter-finalists does not contain the full range of possible champions. Aryna Sabalenka, a hard-hitting 23-year-old, has ascended to fourth place in the rankings despite never reaching the fourth round at a major tournament. Recent warm-up events in Birmingham and Berlin delivered a pair of first-time titlists, Ons Jabeur and Liudmila Samsonova. Ms Jabeur had reached the final eight at the Australian Open in 2020, but Ms Samsonova was a virtual unknown.
In short, Wimbledon could be anybody’s to win. The current title-holder, Simona Halep, who won in 2019 , has withdrawn from the tournament due to a calf injury. The world number two, Naomi Osaka, the reigning champion at both the US and Australian opens, is sitting out the event owing to mental-health concerns. Ashleigh Barty, ranked number one, has an attacking game built for grass but has never gone past the round of 16 at Wimbledon.
Ms Barty or Ms Osaka may yet emerge as a new perennial victor, but the more likely outcome is the variety on view today. Leading players now come from more countries than in the past. Ms Jabeur, of Tunisia, was the first woman from an Arab country to win a title. At the French Open in 2020 Nadia Podoroska of Argentina became the first player from South America to reach a major semi-final in 16 years.
Some fans look back fondly on the era when Ms Graf and a few rivals plowed through the first week, setting up familiar final-round showdowns. The game today does not pack the same star-power punch, but the quality of play is far better, the pool of players more diverse and the results more unpredictable than ever before.
We're seeing a special era of GOATs at the moment- Serena and Simone will be remembered for a longggg time. Or are they just the beginning?
Almost 40❣️
🖕🏿
And, how many of the men pros could they beat?
good luck
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