The 130th Championships at Wimbledon start tomorrow at the All England Club. ESPN and ESPN2 will be televising. The women's final will be Saturday, July 9th @ 9 AM ET/8 AM CT on ESPN, and the men's final will be Sunday, July 10th @ 8 AM CT/ 9 AM ET on ESPN.
Some very interesting story lines going on at the All England Club. Can Serena win Slam No.22 and tie Steffi Graf's all time mark for the Open Era in slams? Margaret Court owns the most slams with 25, but that was when just amateurs were playing, so Steffi's mark is more meaningful. But Serena has struggled getting to No.22. After beating Spaniard Garbine Muguruza last year at Wimbledon to get to Slam 21, she has struggled to reach what looked like was an inevitable 22nd slam and even a 23rd by now. She lost to Italian Roberta Vinci in the semis of the U.S. Open last September, then lost in the finals of the Australian Open to German Angelique Kerber in January. At the French Open in May, she lost to Muguruza in straight sets. So, at 34 years old, that all time mark is getting seemingly tougher to come by than expected for the American.
I like Serena to get to the final again this year. Will the six time champion at Wimbledon , who's won on the grass in 2002, 2003, 2009, 2010, 2012 and 2015, capture another All England title? She gets to the finals again, but Muguruza, the 22 year old who is super talented and has figured out how to play Serena now and beat her, gets it done once again and denies Serena's attempt to tie Steffi's record once again.
Mugu over Serena 6-4, 4-6, 8-6
Like Mugu to get it done for the second slam in a row over Serena
Darkhorse for the women: Madison Keys
Men's
Noval Djokovic has been dominating the men's tennis scene for a while now and he is a pretty heavy favorite to win his 13th overall Slam and his fifth consecutive slam along with keeping his shot at winning the calendar year Grand Slam with a Wimbledon title, which would be his third slam this year and would need only to win at the U.S. Open to get the coveted accomplishment. that has only been done by "the Rocket" Rod Laver, who completed the grand slam in both 1962 and 1969, the only men's player to do it in the Open Era. The Open Era started in 1968. Don Budge also completed the grand slam in 1938. Novak is fast approaching Roger Federer's 17 grand slam titles, and, at 29, is looking like he's got a pretty good shot to reach Fed and surpass him. But the competition is still tough. Roger still hanging tough at 34 years old, and there is 25 year old Canadian Milos Raonic, who is fast approaching the big four. Rafa is really struggling with injuries and not playing. Another darkhorse to look for is 22 year old Dominic Thiem from Austria, who has won four times this year.
Andy Murray has been playing exceptional tennis and won on grass at the Queen's Club two weeks ago to capture that title.
I like Djoker and Murray in the final just like the French, but this time I like Andy to prevail.
Murray over Djoker 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, 2-6, 10-8.
Should be an epic. Enjoy the fortnight.
Andy denies Djoker a shot at the calendar year Grand Slam