Breaking down the Ladies' Singles draw
One player determined to ensure Kim Clijsters’s final Wimbledon campaign comes to an end sooner, rather than later, will be fellow former No.1 Jelena Jankovic.
While no malice is intended, the Serbian 20th seed has the difficult task of facing the popular Belgian in the first round at this year’s Championships.
Jankovic has beaten Clijsters only once in seven meetings and with the crowd cheering her on, expect the Belgian to rise to the occasion.
Top seed and title favourite Maria Sharapova faces a relatively straightforward opener against Australian Anastasia Rodionova. It marks the second Grand Slam tournament this year Rodionova has drawn the top seed after losing to Caroline Wozniacki in Melbourne.
Sharapova’s first serious threat could arrive in the fourth round where last year’s Wimbledon semi-finalist, German Sabine Lisicki, is expected. The new German No.1 Angelique Kerber is on course to meet the Russian in the quarter-finals, with third-seeded Pole Agnieszka Radwanska in the semi-finals.
Radwanska will look to put a disappointing Eastbourne loss behind her, but she is likely to meet unseeded Venus Williams in the second round. Williams opens against Russian Elena Vesnina.
Fifth seed Samantha Stosur is in the same quarter and will aim to surpass a mediocre Wimbledon third-round best. Stosur starts against diminutive Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro.
Second seed Victoria Azarenka leads the seeds in the bottom half and will look to get her Grand Slam winning ways back on track after a fourth-round loss at Roland Garros. She meets American Irena Falconi first, with Wozniacki on course for a quarter-final clash.
The seventh-seeded Dane was out of sorts in her opening-round loss at Eastbourne and could well become the first big casualty with Austria's Tamira Paszek – a quarter-finalist here last year – her opening-round opponent.
Should Wozniacki survive that test, she would likely meet the winner of the first-round match between two-time Grand Slam singles champion, 34th-ranked Svetlana Kuznetsova or 35th-ranked Belgian Yanina Wickmayer.
Defending Champion Petra Kvitova will be first on Centre Court in the Ladies’ draw and should have few problems with Uzbekistan’s Akgul Amanmuradova. The Czech fourth seed could meet four-times Champion Serena Williams in the last eight. Williams is in a comfortable quarter of the draw: she plays Barbora Zahlavova Strycova first.
British hope Laura Robson faces a daunting opening-round mission in getting past former French Open Champion Francesca Schiavone, a player 14 years her senior.
