Li Na to make a 'racket' at SW19

On the 20^th June the first ball will be served in earnest in the 125^th Wimbledon Championships. The title of Women’s Singles Champion looks wide open, current odds show that that the eight most likely women to succeed are priced up between 9/2 and 16/1 suggesting fierce competition at The All England Lawn Tennis Club.

The 21^st Century has been dominated by the Williams sisters; Venus and Serena have racked up 8 of the 10 available ladies singles titles since 2000, only Russian Maria Sharapova (2004) and the now retired Amelie Mauresmo (2006) have been able to break the sisters’ resolve. With Serena having played very little tennis in the past 12 months due to her being on her ‘death bed’ (http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tennis/13755914.stm) and Venus struggling to fend off Andrea Petkovic in the first round of the Aegon International it suggests maybe to find this year’s winner you have to look beyond the American pair.

As well as the Williams sisters, strong cases can be made for Sharapova, Wozniacki and 21 year old Czech player Kvitova but we like World Number 4 Li Na. The Chinese 29 year old comes into the Championships in good form and has a decent record against the majority of her rivals (some of her most impressive tennis came when defeating both Kvitova and Sharapova in the 2011 French Open).

One player we suggest to avoid backing is Belgian Kim Clijsters. Clijsters has never reached the final of the Women’s singles at SW19, and she’s recently back from an injury that kept her out for two months. This Championship may come too soon for the current World number 2 as she regains full fitness. Clijsters hasn’t warmed up well for the tournament suffering defeat to world number 82 Romina Oprandi at the Unicef Open earlier today.

Our selections –

Lay Kim Clijsters outright winner (15.0) 1.5pt
Lay Kim Clijsters vs top 32 seeds (variable odds) 1 pt

Back Li Na  (9.0) and Petra Kvitova (12.5) each 0.5pt

El Jugador