Associated Press Peters Township native Alison Riske had a busy year, winning her first WTA tournament (in China) and advancing to the third round of two majors.
Advertisement
After suffering from a shock defeat in the French Open final to Stan Wawrinka, Djokovic should be eager to bounce back.
For about a week, anyway.
“I guess I really took that to heart”.
“I wasn’t playing great, and I made the finals”. Despite those setbacks, Federer will always fancy his chances on the lush lawns of Wimbledon and he believes the extra week of preparation time – due to the start of the tournament moving back by a week for the first time this year – could prove invaluable.
Meanwhile, Sharapova is happy that she has shrugged off an illness which affected her at the French Open, where she lost in the fourth round to eventual finalist Lucie Safarova.
“I think it was great that I won the French Open, because at least it’s a positive story for my shorts”, Wawrinka said.
Lleyton Hewitt has played his last match at Wimbledon.
“It’s not of my concern, honestly”. “I can’t say I thought she’d be that good, to be honest”. To me her game is better suited to the grass courts than it is to the clay…
Women’s champion Petra Kvitova will hope to have shaken off a sore throat by the time she opens Centre Court on Tuesday against Dutchwoman Kiki Bertens. The second-seeded Czech will play Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands in the first round.
“Yeah, I hit on grass in Florida one day or some days”, said Williams. And she took some time off earlier in the year to rest, skipping big tournaments in Paris and Florida. “So I think it will be the same thing again, but she’ll get past it. That’s what she does”. “Being the youngest of five children really made me have to scrap and be tougher”. But she is determined to not allow these last two years to bother her play this year. Djokovic is 6-1 against Kohlschreiber. However, ahead of her first round tie against Slovakia’s Jana Cepelova, Halep admitted she is in awe of Serena’s achievements and expects to see her succeed at Wimbledon and USA Open over the coming months.
“For sure for me was great win”. “I think a lot of athletes want to have a break, but they didn’t do it”, Kvitova told reporters. The two-time and defending Wimbledon champion is a hard hitter and can match the power of Williams.
Wawrinka, fresh from his French Open win, completes play on Centre Court by facing Portugal’s Joao Sousa. She has won just two matches since the Australian Open.
Kyrgios said James is, “hands down, the best player in the world”.
She said, “I think the fact that I lost so early the past couple years definitely makes me motivated but that also gives me a little less pressure”.
“Obviously I need to think about it eventually but not at the moment”.
He claimed an eighth title at the Halle grass-court event in Germany last week, and would dearly love to pull one clear of the Wimbledon record he shares with Pete Sampras by matching that haul at Wimbledon.
No other player apart from Serena or sister Venus, who also has five Wimbledon titles, has retained the Wimbledon crown in the last 19 years, but Kvitova appears stronger mentally than when she stormed through the pack to win in 2011.
Advertisement
However, with a world no. 33 who has proved himself unsafe on grass over the years as his first opponent, Djokovic is taking nothing for granted. Once I got healthy and kind of got the green light to just start training, that was my goal.
