The Wimbledon 2024 draw featured more than ever many interesting matchups already in the first round. This applies to both men’s and women’s singles. In the women’s category for neutral fans, the most interesting match is the match between Iga Swiatek and Sofia Kenin. After all, they both won Grand Slam tournaments. However, for Russian tennis fans, the central match of the first round lies elsewhere in the draw, where 22nd seed Ekaterina Alexandrova and 2021 US Open champion Emma Raducanu, who received a wild card, finished from the tournament organizers.
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Let us immediately answer a question that may have arisen in the reader’s mind. Why, they say, Alexandrova was called one of the best Russian women if she is not even in the top twenty? This week the WTA published a ranking of tennis players that only takes into account her performances on grass in the last five years. The points earned in this and the last season were taken into account with full weighting, the points for 2022 were multiplied by 0.75, for 2021 – by 0.5, for 2019 – by 0.25.
Since there are no WTA-1000 tournaments on grass, points scored in all events except Wimbledon were multiplied by two; Otherwise, the only main herb would have too much weight. Furthermore, here, as in the official ranking, Wimbledon 2022 was not taken into account, since Russians and Belarusians were then excluded. (This, in particular, explains the absence from the list of Elena Rybakina, the champion of that tournament). And in this improvised ranking, Ekaterina Alexandrova took third place.
The 15 best lawn tennis players (WTA version)
Ons Jabeur (Tunisia) – 3101.5 points Marketa Vondrousova (Czech Republic) – 2374.5 Ekaterina Alexandrova (Russia) – 2206.5 Elena Ostapenko (Latvia) – 1979.5 Arina Sabalenko (Belarus) – 1922.0 Jessica Pegula ( USA) – 1876.5 Madison Keys (USA) – 1690.0 Karolina Pliskova (Czech Republic) – 1576.0 Katie Boulter (Great Britain) – 1535.5 Beatrice Haddad -Maya (Brazil) – 1486.5 Lyudmila Samsonova (Russia) – 1477.5 Daria Kasatkina (Russia) – 1420.0 Corey Gausff (USA) – 1402.5 Donave Vekic (5.5 Donna Vekic (5.5 Donna Vekic (5.5 Donna Vekic (5.5 Donna Vekic (5.5 Donna Vekic (5.5 Donna Vekic (5.5 Donna Vekic (5.5 Donna Vekic (5.5 5.5 Donna Veke Croatia) – 1399.0 Veronika Kudermetova (Russia) – 1321.0
As we can see, our other girls can also play on grass, but Alexandrova still has no equal in Russia. Only two-time Wimbledon finalist Ons Jabeur and Marketa Vondrousova, who will defend her title this year, are ahead of her.
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Unlike Jabeur and Vondrousova, Alexandrova was so high not because of her performances at Wimbledon. The Russian’s best result at the TBS in London was the fourth round, where she reached last season. But Ekaterina won two titles on grass during the reporting period, both in ‘s-Hertogenbosch. She or he could have made it third, but this time she lost to Lyudmila Samsonova in the semi-finals.
During her career, Alexandrova has 38 wins and 19 losses in 57 matches on grass. At the same time, she beat the best tennis players more than once. In Berlin 2021, Ekaterina eliminated the Ukrainian Elina Svitolina, at that time sixth racket in the world, beating her 6:4, 7:5. In the final of ‘s-Hertogenbosch 2022, Aryna Sabalenka covered: 7:5, 6:0! Finally, in the semifinals of Berlin 2023, the Russian defeated Cori Gauff by a similar score: 6-4, 6-0.
On grass, the serve is more important than anywhere else, and in 2024 Alexandrova has already hit 158 aces. According to this indicator, she ranks seventh. (Elena Rybakina, with her 267 serves from start to finish, is, of course, out of the competition.) And Ekaterina’s first serve percentage is 70. If you make a list of tennis players from the top 50 in the world rankings, Alexandrova will be in eighth place in terms of first serve percentage. (The first is Zheng Qingwen, who has 74.8%).
Ekaterina Alexandrova at the WTA-500 tournament in Berlin in 2024
Photo: Iñaki Esnaola/Getty Images
What about Raducanu? The 2021 US Open winner has never faced Alexandrova, so it’s impossible to make assumptions based on head-to-head history. But Emma seems to be doing fine now. Recently, Raducanu has been showing herself to be more of a media personality than a tennis player. But what can you do if injuries rain down on you?
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Like Alexandrova, Raducanu’s best result at Wimbledon was reaching the round of 16. She achieved this result in 2021. In 2022, the British lost in the second round of the major in her country; This is for now the story of her performances at Wimbledon.
Raducanu’s victorious campaign at the 2021 US Open stands out. But let’s not forget that the British player, who played in the qualifiers, managed to get a relatively easy draw after the favorites collapsed, without losing a single set in the tournament. Emma’s most serious rival was Belinda Bencic, ranked 11th. But this week Raducanu for the first time in her career beat a representative of the top ten of the world rankings (previously it was seven losses in seven matches). On the grass of Eastbourne, Emma scored a convincing victory over the fifth racket of the world, Jessica Pegula, 4:6, 7:6 (8:6), 7:5. Here is another reason why Alexandrova should take her confrontation with the Briton seriously.
Emma Raducanu training for Wimbledon 2024
Photo: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images
After defeating Pegula, Raducanu lost to Daria Kasatkina. But she still exudes confidence in her abilities heading into Wimbledon. “I feel good. I must have confidence in myself. I feel that I have every right to be in the position I am in. Because I trained, I worked for this,” Emma said at a press conference.
Former tennis player Laura Robson, who now works as a television tennis commentator, shared her expectations for the performances of Raducanu, who is ranked 168 in the WTA rankings, and British number one Katie Boulter, number 32 in the world rankings. “I was really impressed with how Emma and Katie played in Nottingham. We can be optimistic that both will be able to perform well at Wimbledon. Both will constantly push each other.
Now I hope for a good Wimbledon from Emma. She worked hard, trained on grass for several weeks and now looks ready for this,” Robson told Tennis Infinity.
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Experts find it difficult to name the favorite of the showdown. Raducanu still has a slight advantage: the chances are estimated at approximately 53 to 47. In addition, the public will be on the British side. Well, Alexandrova should take advantage of her winning experience playing on grass. That is what we wish for her.
The first round match of Wimbledon 2024 Ekaterina Alexandrova (Russia, 22 years old) – Emma Raducanu (Great Britain, World Cup) will be played on Center Court on Monday, July 1 and will start no earlier than 15:30 Moscow time. Follow all the events of the “Championship”.
