The 2017 Wimbledon tournament prepares for another memorable fortnight of tennis. Serena Williams will not be part of the proceedings, and neither will Maria Sharapova, but Victoria Azarenka will, and a surprise French Open champion will come to The All-England Club as well. It should be quite an event, and like the French Open, it will have a very wide open feel, although the list of favorites will be different in important ways.
The competition in the 128-player main draw begins on Monday, July 3, in suburban London.
Event Details
Event: Wimbledon
Category: ITF (International Tennis Federation) Grand Slam
Date: July 3-16, 2017
Location: The All-England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club – Wimbledon Village, England
With a prize money total of 31.6 million British pounds, Wimbledon not only pays the champions of both men’s and women’s singles equally; it offers the richest purse of any main-draw tennis tournament. The two end-of-season championship events – the WTA Finals and the ATP World Tour Finals – offer more money for each match won, but the prize at Wimbledon is the biggest prize of all. One thing worth noting for Wimbledon is that since it comes just a few weeks after the French Open, any player who did not do particularly well in Paris on clay gets a chance to immediately bounce back and collect a fat paycheck with a good run in suburban London. This tournament is important for any player who is not especially strong on clay, or for anyone who has struggled through the first half of the year. A big Wimbledon can be valuable on its own, but it’s also important as a catapult into the second half of the season, which in 2017 will be more immediate. This is the latest Wimbledon has ended (July 16, 2017) in many years. There will not be as big a break before the summer hardcourt season in America.
Points
Champion – 2,000 points
Runner-up – 1,300
Semifinal – 780
Quarterfinal – 430
Round of 16 – 240
Round of 32 – 130
Round of 64 – 70
Former Champions and Results (5 Years)
Year Champion Runner-up Score
2016 – Serena Williams def. Angelique Kerber – 7-5, 6-3
2015 – Serena Williams d. Garbine Muguruza – 6-4, 6-4
2014 – Petra Kvitova def. Eugenie Bouchard – 6-3. 6-0
2013 – Marion Bartoli def. Sabine Lisicki – 6-1, 6-4
2012 – Serena Williams def. Agnieszka Radwanska – 6-1, 5-7, 6-2
Player Info:
Victoria Azarenka played a grass warm-up event, but this is her big return to tennis after giving birth to and raising her first child. Everyone will be eager to see if Azarenka can quickly fine-tune her game. If she can, Serena’s and Maria’s absences will give her a realistic shot at her first Wimbledon title, which would be her third Grand Slam championship of her career. That will be a big story.
Another huge story is Petra Kvitova’s pursuit of a third Wimbledon. This one would be the most special, because Kvitova was attacked in her own home over the winter and had to take several months to heal from the violent attack. She created one of the more joyful moments in tennis in 2017 when she won the WTA Birmingham event this past Sunday. She seems ready, but now she has to handle the pressure of playing the most famous tournament in tennis.
Jelena Ostapenko won the French Open, an out-of-nowhere event for a player who was No. 47 at the time. Now she is in the top 20, and all eyes are on her. Will the publicity get to her, or will she relentlessly continue to hit winners – she averaged more than 40 winners per match in her French Open run.
Karolina Pliskova has made the quarterfinals or better in each of her last three major tournaments. She has developed a quality consistency which had been missing from her game for many years. Her huge serve translates well to grass. This is a Grand Slam event which is set up perfectly for her. If she doesn’t at least make the semifinals, it will be a disappointment.
Simona Halep lost a 3-0 lead in the second set of the French Open final against Ostapenko. How will she battle back after being so close to her first Grand Slam title but not securing it?
The All-England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club
The All-England Club sits at the heart of the history of tennis. It is rooted in the development of the sport. It gave rise to the first champions of tennis. It is the cradle of tennis and the site of the most famous occasions witnessed throughout the past 140 years. The other three Grand Slam tournaments all have their place, but Wimbledon will always be the most famous tennis tournament in the world. This large complex with multiple stadium courts continues to be the home of The Championships, as they are called in Britain.
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