Translated material
To bow to the queen
Wimbledon kicks off in London
This week, Wimbledon, the third Grand Slam tournament of the season, begins on the outskirts of London. This time the organizers of the competition decided to revive the former tradition and invite crowned heads to tennis. Queen Elizabeth II's visit is scheduled for Thursday, meaning players who take to Center Court will have to practice ceremonial bows. Before the start of matches, which will be watched by the royal family, tennis players are required to bow to those present in the VIP box and only after that will they be able to start playing.As English newspapers note, the Queen's visit will not be hindered even by the fact that among the participants in the current Wimbledon, for the first time in the entire 133-year history of the tournament, there is not a single Englishman. The gap will be covered by two Scots - Jamie Baker and Andy Murray, from whom the local public has the right to expect surprises.
True, given the composition of the announced players, it will not be easy for Murray to fight for the championship title, even despite the support of the local public. Six-time Wimbledon winner Swiss Roger Federer is seeded number one at the competition. In second place is the leader of the ATP world ranking, Spaniard Rafael Nadal. Many believe that they are the main favorites at Wimbledon 2010.
The number of titles won on grass speaks in Federer's favor. He also has a victory at this year's Australian Open under his belt. The downside is his unstable and not very successful performances this season. Before Wimbledon, the Swiss lost in the final of the grass tournament in Halle, where he was last defeated back in 2002. However, as the famous tennis player and sports commentator Anna Dmitrieva noted, the results of the grass competitions preceding Wimbledon do not mean anything yet, since the players try to save energy before the decisive start. So it is quite possible that Federer will demonstrate his best game at Wimbledon.
Before the start of the tournament, seven-time Wimbledon winner American Pete Sampras called Federer “the king of grass.” “I dominated Wimbledon for a long time, now Federer is the king of the British Open. I think Roger will have a lot more success at Wimbledon. I think he is capable of winning eight or nine grass Grand Slam titles. If things go well for him, Federer can win ten Wimbledon trophies, but for this he needs to play for several more years,” Sampras said.
Federer's opponent, Spaniard Nadal, had a great season this clay season, won Roland Garros and regained the title of first racket of the world. And although Nadal is eager to repeat his Wimbledon success of 2008, in fact since then he has not met strong tennis players on grass, which complicates the situation. Will Nadal have enough motivation to win his second Grand Slam victory of the season - that is the question. The trump cards of the other players, including Serbian Novak Djokovic, American Andy Roddick, Scottish namesake Murray, Swede Robin Soderling and others, do not seem so significant.
In the women's bracket, all attention is focused on the upcoming performances of the Williams sisters from the USA. Serena and Venus have already played the family final at Wimbledon four times. Only two Belgians can stop them this time - Kim Clijsters, who missed Roland Garros due to injury, and the recent winner of the grass competition in 's-Hertogenbosch, Justine Henin. The latter's collection of titles lacks only one thing - victory at Wimbledon. And it was for her that Henin returned to the tennis tour. The Belgian reached the final of the English Grand Slam twice in 2001 and 2006. And it’s possible that I’m more motivated now than ever.
Of the 15 Russian tennis players, Maria Sharapova, who won Wimbledon in 2004, has the most favorable chances. As for the rest, two strong athletes Elena Dementyeva and Dinara Safina withdrew from the competition due to injuries. The most significant loss was the non-participation of Dementieva, who had not missed Wimbledon since 1999, and last year reached the semi-finals. Our other girls - Svetlana Kuznetsova, Maria Kirilenko, Nadezhda Petrova, Alisa Kleybanova, Vera Zvonareva, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and others - for various reasons, are unlikely to be able to compete for the championship.
The list of Russians whose names appear in the men's draw is limited to 7 players: Nikolay Davydenko, Mikhail Yuzhny, Igor Andreev, Dmitry Tursunov, Igor Kunitsyn, Teimuraz Gabashvili and Andrey Kuznetsov. But neither the country's first racket Davydenko, nor Yuzhny, nor wild card holder Gabashvili, for whom grass is not a priority, will be able to surprise the fans. A more successful performance can be expected from Kuznetsov, last year's winner of the junior Wimbledon. But the young tennis player has no experience in playing five-set matches, and on the adult tour he has only three ATP tournaments to his name.