2014 Wimbledon Preview

With the French Open now behind us, we have Wimbledon to look forward to, which starts on Monday. Rafael Nadal and Maria Sharapova both had amazing runs to win the French Open, but now they have to make a quick turn around from clay to grass and try to win back-to-back Grand Slam titles. It's a very difficult task to win the French Open and Wimbledon back-to-back, but both players should be up to the challenge. Like all my Grand Slam previews, I will give you ten things to look for in this year's Wimbledon to help hone in your focus on some key things. Five things will be from the Men's draw and five will be from the Women's. Without further ado, I will begin my list.

1. How will Victoria Azarenka play after her layoff? 

Victoria Azarenka didn't play at the French Open due to a foot injury and has been off to a slow start this year, only reaching the Quarterfinals of the Australian Open back in January. Her ranking has fallen to #9 in the world and she is seeded 8th at Wimbledon. Normally, I would have her as one of my favorites to win this event, given the fact that she has been to the semifinals twice. But since she is recovering from a foot injury and hasn't played in a while, it's hard to figure where she ends up. The one good news for her is she avoided the sections of Serena Williams, Sabine Lisicki, Maria Sharapova, and Na Li. Her projected Round of 16 match is against Dominika Cibulkova and her projected Quarterfinal match is against Agnieszka Radwanska. I like her draw provided she is capable of playing at a high level.

2. How does Andy Murray handle the pressure of being a defending Wimbledon champion? How does the crowd treat him? 

This is probably the most interesting thing to watch for in this tournament. Andy Murray no longer has the pressure of being the first Brit to win Wimbledon since Fred Perry, but there is an added pressure of being the defending champion and being expected to defend the crown for the Motherland. How Murray responds to his new role as defending Wimbledon champion will be fascinating to see in addition to how the crowd responds to him. Will there be the same excitement and buzz around "Murray's Mound"? (Note: To me, it will always be "Henman Hill")

3. How will Serena Williams bounce back from her early French Open exit? 

Losing in the second round of the French Open does not sit well with Serena Williams after she came in as the overwhelming favorite. To see how she rebounds at Wimbledon will be something to watch for. I expect her to play well and make a very deep run.

4. Will Rafael Nadal play well on the grass? 

Rafael Nadal is the greatest player to ever play on clay, and in my opinion, he is the greatest tennis player of all time. But even with that being said, grass has never been his strong suit, and after losing his Wimbledon tune up match, questions immediately are raised about how far he will go in Wimbledon. I expect him to go far and contend, but the first couple of matches will be key for him to gain some confidence. If he does well in his first 2-3 matches, then I think we can be confident that he's going to go deep and at least make the semifinals. In essence, I'm saying he either gets bounced really early in rounds 1 or 2, or he goes to the semifinals or beyond. Given his overall track record for success, I think he goes to at least the semifinals.

5. Will Sabine Lisicki break through and win Wimbledon? 

Sabine Lisicki hasn't found much success at other Grand Slam events, but Wimbledon is where she comes alive. She reached the Final last year, and looks to make another deep run this year. Seeded 19th, she has her work cut out for her, but fortunately, her section looks pretty favorable with Simona Halep, Carla Suarez Navarro, Jelena Jankovic, and Ana Ivanovic being the players ranked ahead of her in her section. I like hr chances to come out of that quarter and make a run to the semifinals, but can she put it all together and win the whole thing? Therein lies the question.

6. Is this the Grand Slam Novak Djokovic gets back in the winner's circle? 

It seems like it was just yesterday that Novak Djokovic was at the peak of his tennis powers winning every Grand Slam except the French Open. But now his Grand Slam drought has gone on pretty long, not winning a slam since the 2013 Australian Open. I think he has a pretty good shot to end the drought here at Wimbledon, but do keep in mind that he has only won one Wimbledon, and that was in 2011.

7.  How does Maria Sharapova do coming off her French Open title? 

Maria Sharapova has always won her Grand Slams far apart from each other and never close to each other, so it's hard to predict she wins back-to-back Grand Slam titles. That being said, if something happens to Serena Williams before their projected Quarterfinals match, Sharapova has to be considered a favorite to win Wimbledon since nobody else ahead of her can be said to be any more likely to win it all.

8. Does Roger Federer have one more Wimbledon in him? 

Roger Federer won Wimbledon back in 2012, but when he did, it felt like he was winning it for the last time as part of the Roger Federer farewell tour. However, he was #1 in the world at the time and still has shown to have some gas left in the tank. Perhaps he gets another Wimbledon title before riding off into the sunset.

9. Look for Serena Williams to win. If she doesn't, then I have no idea who wins the Women's title

Serena Williams is the clear cut favorite to win the Women's Singles title at Wimbledon. But if she doesn't win it all, then it'll be a free for all. Maria Sharapova, Angelique Keber, Sabine Lisicki, and Na Li are some of the ladies who I think are most likely to win it if Serena goes down.

10. Look for Andy Murray to defend his title 

It's really hard for me to pick a winner for the Men's draw, and while I kind of hope it will be Novak Djokovic, I have a hard time picking against Andy Murray. He won Wimbledon last year, so the pressures on him last year are gone and he should be feeling more confident. He played well at Roland Garros and I expect him to play well at Wimbledon. He should have no problem getting past David Ferrer in the Quarterfinals to reach the Semifinals, and he has been successful against Novak Djokovic, his projected Semifinals opponent. Ultimately, I like Murray to win this title, but I wouldn't be shocked if Djokovic, Nadal, or Federer won it.

---Ben Parker: follow me on twitter for tennis news @atp_guy 

Men's French Open Final Preview: Rafael Nadal vs. Novak Djokovic

                                                 (image from: tennisworldusa.org) 

Unlike the Women's French Open final, the Men's French Open final features the two players everybody thought would reach the final: Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. It's no shock that after two weeks of intense tennis on the red clay of Roland Garros, both of these men are still playing for the title. Where people do disagree is when it comes to picking who is going to win the title. A lot of experts think Novak Djokovic will dethrone Rafael Nadal of his French Open crown, and many others including myself think Rafael Nadal will once again reign on the clay as French Open champion.

If I can be perfectly candid, I don't understand why anybody would pick Novak Djokovic to win this title with Rafael Nadal still in it. I say this knowing that many tennis analysts who know the game far better than myself are picking Novak Djokovic to win this title and in the process have him beating Rafael Nadal. Why might they think this? I can only guess that it has something to do with the fact that Djokovic beat him on clay earlier this year in Rome, that Djokovic is hungry for his first French Open title, and that Rafael Nadal can't possibly keep beating a player like Novak Djokovic to win French Open titles. My problem with this line of thinking is that it simply doesn't add up from a logical point of view. It only adds up from the point of view of somebody who doesn't want Rafael Nadal to win or somebody who wants to see Novak Djokovic complete a career slam. The bottom line is that the argument for why Rafael Nadal will win the French Open is much stronger.

Before we even analyze Rafael Nadal vs. Novak Djokovic in their head-to-head matches, I will first lay out some important facts that support my conclusion that Rafael Nadal will win the French Open for the 9th time in 10 years. The first thing I would like to point out is that Novak Djokovic hasn't won a Grand Slam title since the 2013 Australian Open. For a player who recently was expected to challenge Roger Federer's record for most Grand Slam titles, this is quite a drought for Novak Djokovic. More notably, he hasn't won a Grand Slam title outside of the Australian Open since the 2011 US Open. Novak Djokovic practically owns the Australian Open with 4 of his 6 Grand Slam titles coming from the Australian Open but as for Wimbledon and the US Open, he has only won those titles once. As for the French Open, this is just his second trip to the French Open final. It is hard to think that a player who hasn't won a Grand Slam title in the amount of time that he has will end his dry spell on his least favorite surface against the most dominant force we have ever seen play on clay. With Nadal's dominance on clay being unlike anything we have seen from any player on any surface, is it really reasonable to pick Novak Djokovic to come up big and dethrone Nadal to win the French Open?

Secondly, Rafael Nadal hasn't faced any serious opposition all tournament. He's only dropped one set all tournament and that was to David Ferrer in the Quarterfinals. After dropping the first set to Ferrer, Nadal came roaring back, crushing Ferrer 6-4, 6-0, 6-1 in the final 3 sets. As for Andy Murray in the Semifinals, Nadal was so dominant that Murray didn't even need to bother showing up. Nadal destroyed him by the final score of 6-3, 6-2, 6-1. Nadal has plenty of gas in the tank and is coming in really strong and confident. Djokovic will be lucky to get one set off Nadal. Picking him to take 3 sets off Nadal to win the match almost seems preposterous.

As for the head-to-head aspect of this matchup, Nadal owns Djokovic on the red clay at Roland Garros. Sure, Djokovic has beaten Nadal on clay at other venues including Rome earlier this year, but at Roland Garros, Nadal is 5-0 against Novak Djokovic. It is true that Nadal narrowly got away with a 9-7 win in the 5th set the last time they faced at Roland Garros, but he still prevailed, and that is all that matters.

The bottom line is Rafael Nadal should be heavily favored to win this title for the 9th time in 10 years. I don't want to sound like there isn't good reason to watch this match because if anybody can beat Nadal on clay at Roland Garros, it's Novak Djokovic. We've seen him press Nadal at Roland Garros and he is such a great champion himself that you never want to count him out. But what is certain is that if Djokovic is going to defeat Nadal in Sunday's French Open final, he will have to play the match of his life.

---Ben Parker: follow me on twitter @atp_guy 

Women's French Open Final Preview: Maria Sharapova vs. Simona Halep

                                               (image from: tennis.si.com) 

The Women's French Open Final is on Saturday and the two women standing are Maria Sharapova and Simona Halep. Neither woman was expected to get to the Final, but after two weeks of intense tennis on the clay it is clear that both women belong on tennis' biggest stage, which is a Grand Slam Final.

 For Sharapova, she has shown that not only can she win on clay, but more impressively has shown that clay might be her best surface! Clay requires patience and quality foot work while not rewarding players who only like to hit the ball hard to end points quickly. Sharapova has gone from being a player who was great on surfaces like hard court and grass but struggled on clay to being a player who might be best suited for it. Once you learn the patience and the quality foot work, having the weapons that Sharapova does like her strong forehand and power makes you even more dangerous. Her transformation has been incredible to watch and is truly a testament to her hard work and dedication.

As for Simona Halep, what makes her reaching this final so impressive is that nobody knew whether or not her World #4 ranking was legitimate. After backing up her run to the Quarterfinals of the Australian Open with a run to the Final of the French Open, Halep has shown that she is the real deal and not afraid of the pressures and expectations that come from being a player ranked so high. Her game itself I must admit I am less familiar with, but from what I have seen I can tell that she is really consistent, patient, and confident in her game. She doesn't seem to be afraid of the big moments and I certainly expect her to play well in Saturday's Final.

Before I make my prediction, let me give you some info on both of these competitors that would be good to know going into this Final. To get to this Final, Sharapova had to beat former US Open Champion Samantha Stosur, Garbine Murguruza who took out Serena Williams, and Canadian sensation Eugenie Bouchard. As for Simona Halep, she had to beat rising American star Sloane Stephens, former French Open and US Open Champion Svetlana Kuznetsova, and Andrea Petkovic who was coming back from injury and near retirement. As far as the paths both players took, I think both players had very similar roads. They both had to beat players who have won grand slams before and they both had to beat two budding stars from the North American continent. As for their head-to-head comparison, Maria Sharapova is 3-0 against Simona Halep beating her in Indian Wells, Beijing, and Madrid, which was this year. It should be noted that the wins in Indian Wells and Beijing were in straight sets on hard court, and the win for Sharapova in Madrid was on clay and went 3 sets. However, after dropping the first set 1-6, Sharapova came back to win the next two sets 6-2, 6-3, so it isn't like it was really dramatic.

When considering the info above along with Maria Sharapova's overall success throughout her career, I have to pick her to beat Simona Halep to win her 5th Grand Slam title. Sharapova has won the French Open before and she has won 4 Grand Slams. It's hard to pick against her when Halep is playing in her first ever Grand Slam Final. With that being said, there is more pressure on Sharapova to win because she is the favorite. Halep is the player who nobody really knows much about, which could give her an edge because she can play more loose and relaxed. But that isn't enough of a reason for me to pick her to beat Sharapova. Ultimately, I expect this to be a competitive match since Halep has been playing so well, but I do see Sharapova coming out on top and continuing to add to her Hall of Fame resume.

---Ben Parker: follow me on twitter @atp_guy