The prestigious Wimbledon Championships at the All England Club continues this week as Jelena Ostapenko faces Ajla Tomljanovic and Barbora Krejcikova goes up against Veronika Kudermetova. Damien Kayat previews.
2024 WTA Tour – Grand Slam Tennis
Wimbledon Championships
All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club
Selected 1st Round matches – 2 July
Jelena Ostapenko 49/100 | Ajla Tomljanovic 16/10
This promises to be an exciting grudge match. Jelena Ostapenko and Ajla Tomljanovic nearly came to blows on these courts back in 2021, with the Aussie accusing the Latvian of faking injury during their match.
The Aussie ultimately won but she was confronted by the Latvian in ugly post-match scenes. Former French Open champ Jelena Ostapenko has a style that lends itself to wild fluctuations in form.
She swings hard and can look almost unbeatable on her day. But she hasn’t really looked near her best since capturing the Linz Open title earlier this season. And she comes into this match in pretty dreadful grass-court form.
She lost in the opening round of her Birmingham title defence before another early exit in Eastbourne. That being said, she did win the Eastbourne doubles title playing alongside Lyudmila Kichenok.
Ostapenko has undoubted grass-court credentials, winning titles in Eastbourne and Birmingham to go with a glorious Wimbledon semi-final run back in 2018. But she is in pretty poor form and could be vulnerable to an early slip-up.
Ajla Tomljanovic has had to endure some real injury setbacks of late, missing much of last season due to a knee issue. She also elected to have surgery earlier this year to remove non-cancerous fibroids.
She slowly started to edge her way back into action during the clay-court swing. But she really started to rediscover her form when the tour switched to grass, reaching an ITF quarterfinal before a sensational runner-up finish in Birmingham.
She understandably withdrew from Eastbourne following her Birmingham exertions. But it just all points towards positive vibes for the Aussie. Furthermore, Tomlajnoivc reached back-to-back Wimbledon quarterfinals in 2021 and 2022.
She also memorably took down Serena Williams to reach the 2022 US Open quarterfinals and she will fight for every point. She isn’t as explosive as Ostapenko, rather focusing on manipulating her opponent with acute crosscourt angles.
The Verdict: Tomljanovic to win in three sets 48/10
This will be the fifth career meeting between these bitter rivals. Ostapenko leads the Aussie 3-1 in their head-to-head rivalry, winning a tight duel at this year’s Aussie Open.
But Tomlajnovic obviously won that ill-tempered affair at Wimbledon back in 2021 (though Ostapenko squared up the grass-court stakes with victory at Eastbourne).
I just really think that the Aussie is well-positioned for a shock win.
Ostapenko hasn’t looked herself of late and went 1-2 in the grass-court precursors. Tomlajnovic looked composed in Birmingham and will look to keep the ball in play and frustrate Ostapenko into a smorgasbord of errors.
Barbora Krejcikova 11/10 | Veronika Kudermetova 69/100
This looks set to be an exciting 1st round clash between two players who haven’t been performing at their best of late. I have always felt that Barbora Krejcikova would eventually struggle to balance playing both singles and doubles.
She was obviously part of that magnificent doubles partnership with Katerina Siniakova, winning seven Grand Slam titles. She was still a member of that duo when she picked up that French Open singles title (rising as high as No.2 in the singles rankings).
I just didn’t think that was sustainable and her recent singles performances can attest to that. She started the year well, reaching yet another Grand Slam quarterfinal in Melbourne.
But her form nosedived after that and she would actually go on a five-match losing streak heading into the grass-court swing. But she broke that streak with a solid quarter-final run in Birmingham. She then regressed with an opening-round defeat to Fernandez at Eastbourne.
I find it surprising that Wimbledon is the only slam where she hasn’t progressed beyond the fourth round. She serves well and has magnificent volleying technique (obviously a result of all that doubles competition).
She also has an absolutely killer drop-shot, in reality, she was made for these surfaces. She lost in the Birmingham final last season and she could be a nice little dark horse this year.
The 27-year-old Russian Veronika Kudermetova has been on a similarly disappointing downward trajectory. In fact, the big-serving Russian has only won back-to-back main draw matches once this season.
Like Krejcikova, she has performed much better on the doubles circuit his season. In fact, the Russian reached back-to-back doubles finals leading directly into this year’s event (in Berlin and Bad Homburg).
Kudermetova has enjoyed some singles success on grass, finishing runner-up at last year’s Libema Open. Can the Russian rediscover some of her form on a surface that should suit her brand of first-strike tennis? One thing is for sure: she couldn’t have picked a more inviting opponent for her 1st round match.
The Verdict: Krejcikova to win in straight sets 15/10
The Russian has a pretty solid 3-1 head-to-head advantage over the Czech Grand Slam winner. So, it would appear as if this is a fairly favourable draw for the Russian.
I just think that Krejcikova is one of those weird players who can suddenly turn up in big events (be it slams or WTA 1000 events). I think her use of the drop-shot could be crucial in securing a comfy win over Kudermetova.
The Russian has been leaking errors in extended rallies and the Czech is a true fighter, keeping rallies going on as long as possible.
