Serena Williams will go into Wimbledon with the goal of achieving her biggest victory, despite the fact that she is now ranked 1,204th in the world and has not played a singles match in a competitive setting in the last year.
In addition to attempting to win an unprecedented seventh championship at the All England Club, Roger Federer will be going for a record-tying 24th Grand Slam victory.
The chances of a great American player becoming the first unseeded woman to win Wimbledon have seldom been so stacked against her. However, she still has a chance.
After being eliminated in the first round of Wimbledon in 2021 by Aliaksandra Sasnovich when Williams was playing Aliaksandra Sasnovich, Williams has not competed in a singles match on tour. Williams’ 41st birthday is about three months away.
At the French Open a month ago, Sasnovich expressed her optimism to AFP by saying, “I hope I don’t become the last player to have defeated her at Wimbledon.”
“She is an incredible champion, and I hope that we will get to see her again.”
Even though Sasnovich won’t be able to compete at the All England Club because of the ban on Russian and Belarusian players, the player has at least gotten her dream that Serena Williams will play again.
Since she won her eighth Australian Open in 2017, when she was pregnant, the American star has been stuck on 23 Grand Slams, which is quite aggravating.
In 2018 and 2019, she finished in second place at Wimbledon and the US Open, however she was unable to catch up to Margaret Court’s all-time record of 24 major titles.
It would be dishonest of me to say that it wasn’t, and right now my body is feeling amazing, but it is “Williams made the statement on Tuesday after a successful comeback to the courts in doubles competition at Eastbourne.
It was a pleasant experience, but I make it a point to maintain a level of fitness that allows me to compete at Wimbledon whenever the opportunity arises.
It was still Williams in 2016 who was the only woman to successfully defend her Wimbledon championship.
Iga Swiatek, who is now ranked number one in the world, wasn’t even born yet when she made her debut at Wimbledon in 1998.
The Pole, who is just 21 years old, enters the competition having already won his second championship at the French Open and riding a winning run of 35 matches.
That is tied for the greatest winning streak by a woman in the 21st century with Venus Williams, who has 35 consecutive triumphs in the year 2000.
Additionally, it was higher than Serena’s score of 34.
According to Swiatek, “having that 35th victory and sort of achieving something greater than Serena did, it’s really remarkable.”
Even though she won the junior title in 2018, her ability to keep her winning streak alive will be put to the test at Wimbledon, where her greatest achievement to far was reaching the fourth round in 2017.
“Grass is a challenge at all times. I rather enjoy the fact that I am not going into it with any preconceived notions. It’s an interesting change of pace, to say the least “— I quote her.
As the reigning women’s champion Ashleigh Barty announced her retirement earlier this year, the women’s draw is still wide open.
Winner of four major championships Due to an Achilles injury, Naomi Osaka, who was not often considered a strong danger on grass, has withdrawn from the competition.
The Japanese superstar, who is the highest-paid athlete in the world, has previously voiced her hesitation about taking part in the competition.
She was concerned that the ATP and WTA had demoted Wimbledon to the level of an exhibition event by removing ranking points from the competition.
That was a reaction to the ban that was placed on players from Russia and Belarus as a consequence of the invasion of Ukraine.
As a result, three of the top 20 women players won’t be competing at Wimbledon: Aryna Sabalenka, who reached the semifinals at Wimbledon in 2018, Daria Kasatkina, who reached the quarterfinals in 2018, and Victoria Azarenka, who reached the semifinals at Wimbledon in 2011 and 2012.
Nobody from the top five has ever advanced beyond the quarterfinals of this competition.
While Paula Badosa and Swiatek have not yet advanced beyond the fourth round of competition, Ons Jabeur advanced all the way to the quarterfinals in 2021.
Anett Kontaveit, who is ranked second, and Maria Sakkari, who is rated fifth in the world, have not yet advanced beyond the round of 32.