The Tennis Thread

[Scott]

it's definitely going to continue to be interesting on the women's side. with li na's victory she's definitely going to be a major factor at wimby. sharapova playing pretty well again. although i question her fortitude when it gets to the finish lines. will her serve hold up?will last year's finalist in zvonareva finally wake up from this dip in her form? will kim clijsters bounce back? and as for wozniacki.....to be honest i don't expect too much simply because i don't think she's a grass court player. aggressive players always win wimby.

and the biggest the question still looms...is serena and venus still planning to be present? particularly serena as there has been no confirmation as to whether she's playing here or waiting till late summer at the open....if even then.

 

[NakedIfIWantTo]

I heard Venus would return at Wimbledon, not sure about Serena though. Fingers crossed! Women's tennis just won't be the same without the Williams sisters.

 

[constanceMafioso]

^^ Yes both girls will be back on court and Serena has officially booked in for Eastbourne, she has taken a WC for the event... could be very interesting. Venus, she, I don't particularly know if she'll be back in Wimbledon self or before, we'll see.

 

[NakedIfIWantTo]

^Really?! OMG that's awesome!

 

[constanceMafioso]

^^ Yes, here is the article that speaks about it on Yahoo sports. She tweeted many things too so you could also take a look up there.

Serena Williams is back.

The tennis star confirmed to The New York Times' Christopher Clarey that she will make her return to the sport at a Wimbledon tune-up event beginning next Monday and plans to play the grass court major the following week.

Williams hasn't played since winning Wimbledon last July. Her 2011 debut will come in Eastbourne, the final tournament before the year's third Grand Slam.
Last year, one week after defeating Vera Zvonareva for her 13th major title last year, Williams cut her foot prior to an exhibition match with Kim Clijsters. She had two surgeries resulting from the injury and didn't play for the remainder of the 2010 season. Her comeback was delayed further when she suffered a pulmonary embolism in February.

The 29-year-old has been working with a new trainer over the past month in an attempt to prepare herself for the grass court season. Mackie Shilstone, who has worked with boxers Bernard Hopkins and Roy Jones, says Serena isn't "there" yet but is "slowly but surely coming around."

A rusty Serena still would be considered one of the favorites to win at the All England Club when the tournament begins June 20. She's won four Wimbledons during her career, including last year's dominant run to the title in which saw her play some of the best tennis of her career. Serena didn't lose a set en route to the championship.

Because Wimbledon is the only tournament to seed players outside without full respect to the WTA rankings, organizers will have an interesting decision to make in regards to Serena's seeding. She's currently No. 25 in the rankings despite not having played for almost a full year (the 2,000 points she accrued from the Wimbledon win are enough to keep her in that spot). Chances are she'll be moved up at least a dozen spots, if not more.

In Serena's absence, Kim Clijsters won two majors, Li Na began to open tennis into a burgeoning Chinese market courtesy her French Open victory and young players like Caroline Wozniacki and Victoria Azarenka have increased their presence in the game.

That's not to say the sport hasn't missed her. Serena continues to be the biggest female star in the game, driving headlines with controversial Twitter posts and attention-grabbing fashion choices during her injury. Her presence at Wimbledon, however brief it could be, is a tremendous boon to the tournament.

If Serena is healthy enough to play, she's healthy enough to be a contender, especially at a place that favors her power like Wimbledon.

 

[Scott]

yes i saw this yesterday. i'm not going to lie serena isn't my favourite player by any means,but since both women have sat out these last months,something has definitely been amiss. it goes beyond the issue of the world ranking but just the quality and consistency of play in the last few months from most of the players in the top 10. kim hasn't played an awful lot since the paris indoors....up and down thereafter.....injured. the competitiveness hasn't been so dynamic. perhaps when they do return,it'll make the rest of the tour a bit stronger as a whole.

 

[constanceMafioso]

yes i saw this yesterday. i'm not going to lie serena isn't my favourite player by any means,but since both women have sat out these last months,something has definitely been amiss. it goes beyond the issue of the world ranking but just the quality and consistency of play in the last few months from most of the players in the top 10. kim hasn't played an awful lot since the paris indoors....up and down thereafter.....injured. the competitiveness hasn't been so dynamic. perhaps when they do return,it'll make the rest of the tour a bit stronger as a whole.

Well I think that you must not expect to WS to just change the course of the tour by the snap of a finger (...) they've been out for almost a year now and honestly with their age it's really going to take them long to get their good form back again - Serena though can be very surprising she you really can't count her out.

BTW the draw is out - Vee gets Andrea Petkovic and Serena gets Pironkova in their respective 1st. rounds matches - the rest here :

wtatour.com via imagur

 

[Scott]

i honestly don't know what to expect. i know with venus it takes her a bit longer to find her form but serena....well....we've seen how she's come back before. but it is a little different this time considering the magnitude of her health issues.

i'm just saying,when they've been active the other women seem to play a bit better....at least the stronger players seem more driven.

 

[Chaky]

Just been reading about this collaboration between the British Fashion Council and WTA where British-based designers will be dressing some of the top players for the Wimbledon players party.

Full article is at FT.com

These are the pairings announced so far:

Vera Zvonareva - Hussein Chalayan
Andrea Petkovic - Richard Nicoll
Jelena Jankovic - Vivienne Westwood
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova - David Koma
Li Na - Giles Deacon
Maria Sharapova - Alexander McQueen
Serena Williams - Burberry
Caroline Wozniacki - Stella McCartney
Ana Ivanovic - Matthew Williamson

I notice a lot of players say they have an interest in fashion but seeing some of the stuff they wear to the many parties on the tour you have to wonder.

 

[Scott]

the chalayan for vera???!!!!! i really love his a/w collection and i think the pairing is quite logical as vera is such a woman of substance. nicoll on petko and the deacon on li na....both look very interesting as well.

why not schiavone,clijsters or stosur? i remember last year during the YE championships for the oriflame shoot....frankie looked quite impressive.

 

[Chaky]

I've got more. I don't know if this whole list is 100% confirmed yet.

Samantha Stosur - Mary Katrantzou
Heather Watson - Mulberry
Laura Robson - Temperley
Bethanie Mattek-Sands - Alex Noble

They are auctioning the dresses off for charity during Wimbledon.

 

[Scott]

katrantzou+stosur=that's a powerful image. mary's strong structural silhouettes and graphics seems like it would work well with sam's sinewy physicality.

that's very intriguing though. it's about time the fashion world got involved in tennis. i've always had fantasies of dressing the players.

btw,i agree with you in regards to players not so much being stylish. sharapova,serena,venus,sveta,ivanovic,jankovic,hingis and elena dementieva are really the only players i've seen that kind of practice what they preach. vera is quite lovely off the court as well. and i remember amelie mauresmo being fond of wearing demeulemeester suits.

 

[Chaky]

Mmm, Katrantzou could be very interesting. I know Alex Noble is doing something for Beth made out of tennis balls.

I think there may be a couple more players and designers I've not listed but I haven't seen them mentioned anywhere yet. Well we'll see on Thursday.

I just hope the designers can do something about all those sock tans.

 

[Chaky]

Wimbledon Players Party 2011

daylife.com

 

[Chaky]

Cornet, Jankovic, Wozniacki

daylife.com

 

[Chaky]

Ivanovic, Cirstea, Lisicki

daylife.com

 

[Chaky]

Serena, Heather Watson, Nastia P, Petkovic, Franny, Baltacha

daylife.com

 

[NakedIfIWantTo]

Wow Franchesca looks good.

 

[Scott]

^i think so too! wowza! a little tilda swinton-esque actually

 

[Chaky]

Li Na in Giles Deacon

twitter.com/sonali__shah