Wimbledon 2019: Scream queens running out of puff

There are not many who think that Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova can claim six wins between them to set a fourth-round showdown.

Serena Williams practises serve during training ahead of The Championships. Picture: AP.

Fifteen years after one of the more memorable Wimbledon women’s singles finals since the turn of the century, Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova return to the All England Club, their prospects of winning another grand slam title shrouded in uncertainty because of physical problems.

Once upon a time, the possibility of a fourth-round meeting between the two fierce rivals would have been one of the standout lines from the draw, but it is quite telling that there have been few mentions of it in tennis circles. There are not many insiders who think that Williams, 37, and Sharapova, 32, can claim six wins between them to set it up.

Time is running out if we are to be treated to a 22nd episode of this rather one-sided rivalry. Since Sharapova defeated Williams to win the Venus Rosewater dish aged 17 in 2004, she has won one of their 18 encounters. Yet, the needle between them more than makes up for the repeated non-contests.

Williams, ranked No 11, has struggled to shake off a knee injury this year and has completed six matches since the end of January.

It came as a surprise that, after losing in the third round of the French Open last month, she decided not to play a grass-court tournament before Wimbledon.

“It would have helped for sure, so she can gauge where she is on the grass and what she needs to work on,” said Chris Evert, the 18-times grand slam singles champion and ESPN pundit. “Even if she lost early, Serena is the type of player who can learn from her losses.

“The one difference since she came back (from pregnancy last year) is that she has been one or two steps slower. It’s a little bit of fitness, a little bit of matchplay and confidence (that is lacking). But the grass is her best surface. With her game and power, she is most effective on the grass. You can’t count her out.”

If you were to look up Sharapova’s rankings, a double take would be likely. The five-times grand slam champion has dropped to No 80, after an absence of four months because of a recurrence of a right shoulder injury. She underwent surgery in February, and only recently returned at the Mallorca Open, losing in the second round. “My shoulder has been troublesome for a majority of my career,” Sharapova said in Mallorca last month. “Before it was about pain management, but in January I wasn’t really enjoying playing because after every match I would think about what we would do to help my shoulder.”

Sharapova has reached one quarter-final at a major since returning from a 15-month drug suspension in April 2017. When asked in January if she was struggling to cope with the physical demands of a grand slam fortnight now that she could no longer take meldonium, a substance that was legal until the start of 2016, she replied: “Is there another question?”

Undoubtedly, there is more pressure on Williams than the Russian. The American is only one grand slam singles title short of equalling Margaret Court’s all-time record total of 24.

The Times