New York Tennis Magazine’s Wimbledon 2013 Picks

June 21, 2013 | By New York Tennis Magazine Staff
Sharapova_01_16
Photo credit: Kenneth B. Goldberg

The year’s third Grand Slam is upon us, as on Monday, June 24, Wimbledon will begin at the All England Club. Wimbledon is the oldest tennis event in the world, and widely considered the most prestigious. As the tournament approaches, we have compiled some statistics and offered some predictions as to who will or won’t be successful at this year’s Championships. Here is a look into this year’s Contenders, Pretenders and Sleepers at Wimbledon.

Men’s side of the draw
Contenders
#1 seed Novak Djokovic (Serbia)
Reached quarterfinals of Wimbledon in 2009, semifinals in 2007, 2010, and 2012, and winner of 2011. Has won six Grand Slam singles titles: the 2008, 2011, 2012, and 2013 Australian Open; the 2011 Wimbledon Championships; and the 2011 US Open. as the year-end World No. 1 for both 2011 and 2012. Djokovic is the first male player representing Serbia to win a Grand Slam singles title. He holds several men’s world records of the Open Era: becoming the youngest player in the Open Era to have reached the semifinals of all four Grand Slam events both separately and consecutively; the first and only man to win three consecutive Australian Open titles in the Open Era; and playing the longest Grand Slam men’s singles final in history (5 hours 53 minutes).

#2 seed Andy Murray (Britain)
Murray reached semifinals at Wimbledon in 2009, 2010, 2011, quarterfinals in 2008, and was a runner-up in 2012. The hometown favorite, it was at the 2012 U.S. Open where he defeated Djokovic in five sets to became the only British male to become a Grand Slam singles champion during the Open Era. At the 2012 Olympic Games, Murray defeated Roger Federer in straight sets to win the gold medal in men’s singles, becoming the first British champion in over 100 years. He is the first (and only to date) man in history to win the Olympic gold medal and the U.S. Open title back-to-back. He has been the runner-up in five other singles Grand Slam finals: the 2008 U.S. Open, the 2010 Australian Open, the 2011 Australian Open, 2012 Wimbledon and the 2013 Australian Open losing three to Roger Federer and two to Novak Djokovic.

#3 seed Roger Federer (Switzerland)
Federer won Wimbledon 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012, and was runner-up in 2008, and reached the quarterfinals in 2001, 2010, and 2011. He holds several men’s world records of the Open Era: holding the World No. 1 position for 302 weeks overall; a 237-consecutive-week stretch at the top from 2004 to 2008; winning 17 Grand Slam singles titles; reaching the finals of each Grand Slam tournament at least five times (an all-time record); and reaching the Wimbledon final eight times. Federer is one of seven men, and one of four in the Open Era, to capture the career Grand Slam, and one of three (with Andre Agassi and Rafael Nadal) to do so separately on clay, grass, and hard courts. He also shares the Open Era record for most titles at the Australian Open with Agassi and Novak Djokovic (4), at Wimbledon with Pete Sampras (7) and at the US Open with Jimmy Connors and Sampras (5). Federer has appeared in 24 men’s Grand Slam finals. He is the only man to reach at least the semifinals of 23 consecutive Grand Slam tournaments, from the 2004 Wimbledon Championships through the 2010 Australian Open.

#5 seed Rafael Nadal (Spain) 
Nadal won Wimbledon in 2008 and 2010, and was runner-up at Wimbledon in 2006, 2007, and 2011. Nadal has won 12 Grand Slam singles titles, including an all-time record eight French Open titles, the 2008 Olympic gold medal in singles, a record 24 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournaments, a record 14 ATP World Tour 500 tournaments, and was also part of the Spain Davis Cup team that won the finals in 2004, 2008, 2009 and 2011. He is the second male player to complete the Career Golden Slam (winner of the Career Grand Slam and the Olympic gold medal) after Andre Agassi. He has at least two Grand Slam titles on each of the three surfaces (hard court, grass, and clay). By winning the 2013 French Open, he became the only male player to win any Grand Slam tournament eight times, and the first man to win at least one grand slam tournament for nine consecutive years.

 

Pretenders

#4 seed David Ferrer (Spain)
Ferrer reached the quarterfinals of Wimbledon in 2012. He reached the final of the French Open in 2013, the semifinals of the Australian and U.S. Opens twice each and was part of the Spain Davis Cup team that won the finals in 2008, 2009 and 2011.

#9 seed Richard Gasquet (France)
Gasquet reached the semifinals of Wimbledon in 2007, and reached second round in singles at 2012 London Olympics, where he won bronze in doubles. He won the mixed-doubles Grand Slam title at the 2004 French Open, partnering with Tatiana Golovin. Has a career-high singles ranking of world number seven.

#11 seed Stanislas Wawrinka (Switzerland)

Wawrinka has yet to advance past the fourth round at Wimbledon. He reached the quarterfinals of the Australian Open in 2011, the U.S. Open in 2010, and the French Open in 2013. His career-high singles ranking is World No. 9, achieved on 9 June 2008. He won the Gold medal for Switzerland in the men’s doubles event at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, partnering with Roger Federer,

#12 seed Kei Nishikori (Japan)
Kei advanced to third round of Wimbledon in 2012 and reached the quarterfinals of the 2012 Australian Open. Over the cours eof his career, he has won three singles titles. On June 17, 2013, he reached a career-high singles ranking of 11th in the world.

#14 seed Janko Tipsarevic (Serbia)

Janko reached the fourth round at Wimbledon in 2007 and 2008, and third round in 2012. Has a career-high singles ranking of world number eight, achieved April 2, 2012. He has won four ATP World Tour titles, two Futures, and nine tournaments in the ATP Challenger Series. He achieved two victories over a world number one player, having defeated compatriot Novak Djokovic twice. He also has 13 victories against other players in the top 10. His best result at a Grand Slam have been reaching the quarterfinals at the U.S. Open in 2011 and 2012.

Sleepers

#7 seed Tomas Berdych (Czech Republic)

Berdych reached the final of the 2010 Wimbledon Championships, losing to Rafael Nadal in straight sets. He reached the Wimbledon quarterfinals in 2007, and also reached the semifinals of the 2010 French Open, and the 2012 U.S. Open. He is the second player (after David Nalbandian) to defeat Roger Federer multiple times in Grand Slam events before the semifinal stage. Tomas won the Paris Masters in 2005, and reached the finals of the Miami Masters in 2010 and the Madrid Open in 2012.

#8 seed Juan Martin Del Potro (Argentina)
Juan has yet to advance past the fourth round at Wimbledon, and remains the highest-ranked Argentine. In January 2010, he reached a career-high ranking of world number four, and in 2008, he became the first player in ATP history to win his first four career titles in as many tournaments. He captured his first Grand Slam title at the 2009 U.S. Open, defeating Nadal in the semifinal and Federer in the finals—the first man to defeat them both in the same Grand Slam tournament. He is the only player other than Djokovic, Nadal, Federer, and Murray to have won a men’s Grand Slam singles title since 2005. He also won the bronze medal in men’s singles at the London Olympics in 2012.

#18 seed John Isner (U.S.)
Isner has yet to advance past second round at Wimbledon. He achieved his career-high singles ranking of world number nine on March 19, 2012, and is currently the second highest-ranked male American tennis player behind Sam Querrey. His most famous victories were against Federer in the Davis Cup encounter in February 2012, top seed Djokovic at the 2012 Masters 1000 tournament in Indian Wells, Roddick in the 2009 U.S. Open, and against Nicolas Mahut at the 2010 Wimbledon Championships where he played the longest professional tennis match in history at 11 hours and 5 minutes over the course of three days.

Deep Sleepers

#26 seed Alexandr Dolgopolov (Ukraine)
Reached career-high number 13 on Jan. 16 and  also in 2013, advanced to his first ever Grand Slam quarterfinal at Australian Open.

#27 seed Kevin Anderson (South Africa)

Anderson eached the second round at Wimbledon in 2011, and became the top-ranked South African player in March 2008 after making the final at the 2008 Tennis Channel Open in Las Vegas. He achieved a career-high ranking of world number 25 in May 2013. He captured the South African Open title for his first ATP-level event title in February 2011.



 

Women’s side of the draw

Favorites
#1 seed Serena Williams (U.S.)

Serena reached the Wimbledon semifinals in 2000, runner-up in 2004 and 2008, and won the tournament in 2002, 2003, 2009, 2010, and 2012. She is the reigning French Open, Wimbledon, U.S. Open, WTA Tour Championships and Olympic ladies singles champion. She is the only player to have achieved a Career Golden Slam in both singles and doubles. Her 31 Grand Slam titles ties her for eighth on the all-time list: 16 in singles, 13 in women’s doubles, and 2 in mixed-doubles. Among active players, male or female, Serena holds the most major singles, doubles, and mixed doubles titles. She is also a three-time winner of the WTA Tour Championships, and has won four Olympic gold medals, one in women’s singles and three in women’s doubles, an all-time record shared with her sister Venus.

#2 seed Victoria Azarenka (Belarus)
Azarenka reached Wimbledon semifinals in 2011 and 2012, as well as the quarterfinals in 2009. She has won two Australian Open singles titles (2012 and 2013), becoming the first Belarusian player to win a Grand Slam in singles. Azarenka won the bronze medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, two mixed doubles Grand Slam titles—the 2007 U.S. Open with Max Mirnyi, the 2008 French Open with Bob Bryan—and the gold medal in the mixed-doubles at the 2012 London Olympics with Max Mirnyi.

 

#3 seed Maria Sharapova (Russia)
Maria defeated two-time defending champion and top seed Serena Williams in the 2004 Wimbledon final for her first Grand Slam singles title. She reached 2005 and 2006 Wimbledon semifinals, and lost in the 2011 finals to Petra Kvitova. She has won 29 WTA singles titles, including four Grand Slam singles titles, and subsequent major titles at the 2006 U.S. Open, 2008 Australian Open, and 2012 French Open. She won an Olympic silver medal in the London 2012 Olympics.

#4 seed Agnieszka Radwanska (Poland)

Radwanska was runner-up to Serena Williams at 2012 Wimbledon, and over the cours eof her career, has won 12 career singles titles. She was the winner of the longest three-set match played at the WTA Tour Championships.

Pretenders

#5 seed Sara Errani (Italy)

Wimbledon is the only Grand Slam tournament in which Errani has yet to make the quarterfinals. She is the world’s number one doubles player and has won seven career singles titles.At the Australian Open, she reached the quarterfinals in singles and was a finalist in doubles. Errani won three titles on clay going into the 2012 French Open, where she reached the finals in both the singles and doubles tournaments, winning the doubles title. She also won the doubles title at the 2012 US Open.

#9 seed Caroline Wozniacki (Denmark)

Wozniacki reached the fourth round at Wimbledon in 2009, 2010 and 2011. A former world number one on the WTA Tour, Wozniacki has won 20 WTA singles titles. She was runner-up at the 2009 U.S. Open and the 2010 WTA Tour Championships, but has has yet to win a women’s Grand Slam title.

#12 seed Ana Ivanovic (Serbia)
Ivanovic reached the fourth round of Wimbledon in 2012 and 2006, and the semifinals in 2007. A former world number one Serbian tennis player, Ana won the 2008 French Open and was the runner-up in singles at the 2007 French Open and the 2008 Australian Open. She reached the quarterfinals at the 2012 U.S. Open, where she lost to eventual champion Serena Williams.

Sleepers

#10 seed Maria Kirilenko (Russia)
Kirilenko has reached three Grand Slam singles quarterfinals, at the 2010 Australian Open the 2012 Wimbledon Championships and the 2013 French Open. In doubles, she has reached two Grand Slam doubles finals, at the 2011 Australian Open and the 2012 French Open. She won the 2012 WTA Tour Championships and was a Bronze Medalist at the 2012 London Olympics. As of June 17, 2013, she was ranked world number 10, a career high.

#17 seed Sloane Stephens (U.S.)
Sloane reached the third round of Wimbledon in 2012 and advanced to the fourth round of the 2013 French Open. She won the Junior Grand Slam final at Wimbledon in 2010, and has yet to make a WTA Tour singles final, having reached four semifinals including one at the 2013 Australian Open, where she defeated Serena Williams in the quarterfinals.


New York Tennis Magazine Staff
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