With injuries plaguing the women’s side of Wimbledon 2022, Iga Swiatek heads the seeds as number one.
Naomi Osaka, Emma Raducanu, Aryna Sabalenka, Victoria Azarenka, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, and Daria Kasatkina will not appear at the tournament.
With 2021 winner Ash Barty announcing her retirement after pinching her maiden Australian Open, a new Wimbledon queen will reign supreme.
Iga swiatek
Ranked as the number-one seed heading into the tournament, Iga Swiatek has been installed as the favourite to win Wimbledon in 2022.
She is a clear-cut favourite, with the rest of her competitors being shifted to double-figure odds.
Her French Open win earlier this year was as dominant as they come, continuing her stronghold on clay.
However, the Wimbledon line-up looks a much more competitive prospect than what we saw at Roland Garros.
Essentially, this tournament is a Swiatek loss away from being one of the more open events on the tour we have seen in recent times.
The 21-year-old world number one is only 4-4 in her career on grass courts.
She is a much better player than she was last year, but the current odds are not enticing.
Ons Jabeur
Ons Jabeur looks a challenger to Iga Swiatek.
The 27-year-old Tunisian had a shock first-round exit at the French Open, but we have seen her best performance comes on the grass courts.
She went to the quarter-finals at Wimbledon 2021 and defeated Swiatek.
Her lead-up tournament was the Grass Court Championships Berlin, which saw her win in a two-set walkover against Belinda Bencic.
What sets Jabeur apart from her constituents in her slice.
It is an area of her game she can use to a significant effect on the slow, ball-dropping courts of Wimbledon.
Keep an eye on her form early in the tournament.
She is one to watch.
Serena Williams
Serena Williams.
Unseeded at a grand slam?
It does not seem natural to see no number placed aside the greatest-ever women’s tennis player in history.
Now ranked 1204 in the world, Williams got her first competitive win in 12 months after teaming up with Ons Jabeur to win a doubles match at the Eastbourne Invitational.
At 40 years old, she is closing in on the end of her career, but there is still some fire left in the belly.
It would be one of the biggest stories in tennis history if she could return and recapture some of her old forms on the way to winning this tournament.
Interestingly, you would have to say the market is keeping her relatively safe at the $17 quote.
Emma raducanu
We cannot go without mentioning the local hope in the form of Emma Raducanu.
It has been a whirlwind of a year for the 19-year-old Brit.
Since winning her first-ever grand slam by taking out the 2021 US Open – the first-ever qualifier to do so – she has really struggled for form.
Coach changes and the like have not had much of an effect, but underneath her form slump, there is a player capable of blowing this field apart.
We saw her capability and talent on show at Flushing Meadows last year.
Her Wimbledon performance in 2021 was a fourth-round finish before retiring due to respiratory. complications.
She appears on homesoil as the world No.11 and all the British faithful will be hoping she can deliver something akin to her amazing run in America.
She is still learning what the tour is all about, but with the crowd on her side, maybe that is what she needs to bring back her freedom and confidence.
