THURSDAY, JUNE 18 – Some fans know that the AELTC has an agreement with the WTA to use its rankings as a way to seed the women players at Wimbledon, and some folks are also aware that the club and the ATP don’t have such an agreement. But who knows exactly why the club decided to make one major move in regards to the women’s seedings, instead of the 10 or so it could have made? Wimbledon decided to rightly elevate Maria Sharapova, currently ranked No. 59, into the 24th seeded position, and kept the rest of the field the same.
But it should have equaled similar moves on the men’s side, which included: Marat Safin, a semifinalist last year, going from No. 23 in the rankings to a No. 15 seed. Rainer Schuettler went from No. 30 to No. 19; Marin Cilic went from No. 13 to No. 11; Feliciano Lopez from No. 28 to 22, and Philipp Kohlschreiber, from No. 33 to 27. Mardy Fish, who is a good grasscourt player but who has underperformed during the last year, fell from No. 24 to the 28th seed, and Igor Andreev went down from No. 25 to the 29th seed.
To determine its men’s seedings, Wimbledon used past grasscourt results in combination with the rankings.
Off the top of my head, here are some moves I’d make on the women’s side:
Make five times champ Venus Williams the top seed. The third ranked player deserves it until someone beats her.
Make Serena the second seed over Dinara Safina, who has shown nothing on grass.
Move Vika Azarenka and Caroline Wozniacki, ranked No. 8 and No.9 past Kuznetsova, Jankovic and Zvonareva and into the No. 5 and 6 spots. They are much more capable on the surface.
Move former champ Amelie Mauresmo from No. 17 to No. 13.
Move Birmingham champ Magdalena Rybarikova from No. 42 to No. 32 – at least she likes to play on grass.
Before diving into today’s results and some breaking news, here are some notable Wimby qualifiers. The qualifying ended on Wednesday: Jesse Levine, Xavier Malisse, Rajeev Ram, Michael Yani, Taylor Dent, Sesil Karatantcheva, Melanie Oudin, Klara Zakopalova and Viktoriya KutuzovaThere’s bad news out of defending Wimby champ Rafa Nadal’s camp – his knees are still hurting and his brutally honest coach and uncle, Toni, is not giving the thumbs up yet for Wimbledon. During an exo against Lleyton Hewitt, which Rafa lost, Toni urged him to bend down” to the ball and Rafa replied, “I can’t”.
“Rafa is having difficulties bending his knees and it (seems) that his various treatments are not enough,” Toni added.
It’s Wozi v. Wozi again, this time in Eastbourne, when Caroline Wozniacki, will meet Aleksandra Wozniak. The Dane bested Ekaterina Makarova 6-3, 6-2, while the Canadian Vera Dushevina 6-1, 6-0. Wozniacki has gotten the better of the friends’ rivalry in the past.
Virginie Razzano knocked out Agnieszka Radwanska, and will play Marion Bartoli, who beat Spain’s Anabel Medina Garrigues 6-1 6-4. “I know everything about her,” said Razzano. “She is a special girl. I need to be careful about everything because she can do everything.”
On the men’s side, Ivan Ljubicic badly hurt his ankle against Fabrice Santoro and is now questionable for Wimbledon. Santoro will play Canadian qualifier Frank Dancevic, who beat Argentine Leonardo Mayer 6-7, 6-4, 7-5. Dmitry Tursunov will play Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in Friday’s other semi.
in Den Bosch, Safina overcame Daniela Hantuchova 1-6, 6-4, 6-3 and will play Tamarine Tanasugarn, who bested Flavia Pennetta 2-6, 6-3, 6-3. The other semifinal will feature Belgium’s Yanina Wickmayer and Francesca Schiavone. On the men’s side, Ivan Navarro upended David Ferrer and will play Raemon Sluiter. Benjamin Becker beat Michael Llodra and will go up against Rainer Schuettler.
From TennisReporters.net
