Analyzing 2024 Wimbledon women's draw, tournament storylines | The French Connection | NBC Sports

let's flip to the ladies and when you look at the draw the first two names you see eager Shante playing against Sophia Kennan now we cannot forget about the fact that Sophia Kennan took out Coco go in the first round at Wimbledon so she likes doing this she did it last year she came through quales so she was playing really good tennis coming into Wimbledon she took her Coco Golf and now she has the um luck of playing the number one seed and I'm telling you right now if there's an upset it could be this one and I know eag has beaten her both times that they've played and they only play at Grand Slams which is ridiculous they've played twice and eager's won both matches in straight sets Okay but on grass this is a nightmare for eager Shion first round because she hasn't done she has played no matches coming in here on grass and to play on a really fast slow like the ball is going to stay low Sophia Cannon is a nightmare first round for her give me your thoughts on that first round it's like the playing Osaka early on of the French Open part you know the the sequel look get like you said Kenan look she's a grand slam Champion She's Crafty and that's you know when you're playing people on grass that are crafty it's difficult kenan's gonna hit gonna hit 30 Drop shots she's gonna bring EGA in where she's not overly comfortable EA's as as great as she is grass isn't her best surface and to play Someone like this right out of the Chute when you're you know you don't have your bearings you don't know how the courts playing it's gonna be difficult and I'm I'm with you like I'm not shocked if there's an upset here I think it's going to be it's a juicy first round that everyone's gonna be glued to it's a nightmare for her first round I can tell you that um because that court is going to play perfectly for Sophia Kennan to as you said hit the Drop shots hit the ball hard through the court with the forand like just nail it so it's not going to be easy for EA and I'm telling you going into that she's going to be very very nervous okay in I mean it is a rough draw for E I got to tell you for her to even possibly get to the semi-final she's got to go through a lot of people we I really need the glasses on this because the WTA this is the draw for the women's and in this section of the draw up the first half for her even if she gets through into the fourth round is her biggest Nemesis in Alona osta Peno who beats eager all the time and is a great grass cot player the one caveat is that she plays Isa tomlanovich who's coming back from an injury but has played pretty well since coming back from the injury and has played well and plays well on grasses made the quarters here um I believe last year made the quarters again here so this is a nightmare for ostap Peno first round and if you remember do you remember this the argument Sam that they had on the court a couple of years ago it was I don't remember the specific argument but I remember them arguing it was not pretty Tom Lovich accused ostapenko of faking her injuries and called her out on the court they had the trainer on the court it was viral if you haven't seen it check it out but that first round is one of those matches where you go take your popcorn because that will be a tough first round but if osta pener gets through there and eega is going no not again not this girl because this is a nightmare the one section of the draw I think the one player we need to highlight is Danielle Collins look she's had an amazing year she hasn't had a couple of great results of late but if she can find her form on the grass early not a bad section of the draw for her talson is a very good player um and can be dangerous and hits The Living Daylights out of the ball so it's not an easy first round but hadaj meer is in that section but that this this section of the draw for eager is really hard I agree and look I don't I don't know the women's draw as well as you do um but like you're saying Collins is a good player AAP Peno Tom jonovich uh you've got that I see Kerber was in there as a wild card um yeah you know that's always tricky that's always tricky as well if EA gets through her first round um there's a girl her last name is Jones a wild card from from Great Britain people the players the men and women from Great Britain know how to play on grass so there's yeah and I will say actually actually I will say I think martic wins that match and martiage can Mar is a great player yeah like they're all that's a tough section there's hurdles everywhere in that section for EA yeah I mean potina who is in that section to play kerba which is a nightmare for Kerber just won a tournament on grass beating Tom Lovich so you know these are players that know how to play on grass they're effective on the surface and and we talk about it all the time match Huts are important but grass and surfaces are huge and eager is not comfortable on grass at all particularly early on when the court plays a little bit different in the first week than it does in the second week and also just adding down the bottom half of the draw my pick to win the tournament is rakina now poor poor old rakina though again pulls out of a tournament with an illness all the things that are going on with her so if she stays healthy she's my pick to get through this but now I have to add down the bottom half of the draw you've got anjur and Jessica paga now if they get through I mean they play in the fourth round to play probably rabach but Lea Fernandez is in there and she's in the finals of eastborn so you know she plays well on grass so this whole section of the drawer is the whole half of the draw the women's is absolutely stacked with great grass scort players who know how to win at Wimbledon and this is a section that I would not want to be in no you're absolutely right like jabber a finalist you've got pagul who just won a tournament last week Lea Fernandez in the final this week um rakus ktie B who just yeah I mean they're all really this this is the section of the draw that you just go oh God nightmare I mean if you took like the six best like kind of like hey who are the six best kind of grasscourt specific players and they put them all in that one section right there nightmare like actually there's a thing on the WTA uh website right now where they do have the Grass Court Power Rankings and you know I'll I'll go through them for you it's jabber first vova second because she won wion last year alexandrova osta Peno uh sabalenka pug and then it goes Madison Keys pichova Bolta this is the top 10 and hadaj meire and most of those are in that section of the draw so it's just a nightmare yeah so I don't know who's gonna get through here I picked rabach Ken to win the tournament so I have to go with her but I think Jessica poua is a sneaky okay she comes in here she knows she was so close to being in the final last year up 4-1 points to go up 5-1 against vova who then went on to in the tournament so I think Jesper guler comes in here fresh as a daisy she barely has played this year with injuries and she comes in here super healthy super confident and I don't know but I can't change I picked Rina but if I had I like Pula as well and I also like like she's a friend she's an American I'm cheering for her and like you said she hasn't played a lot this year she hasn't played great but she just she kind of came off an injury and then won a tournament so she's coming in with confidence I think there's like that fine line of like the expectations for her aren't that high right now so she's kind of playing with a little more Loosey Goosey attitude and look I'm I'm cheering for her and I think she's gonna get through this and I just want to add I agree with you that's but I you got to stick with my my my person right but one one little section in there Caroline was neaki to play against Alicia parks and Alicia Parks got through qualifying and has the biggest serve and the biggest game so she's confident that is going to be a really fun match between those two um of the draw so there's a lot of popcorn first rounds in that section and I as we said we can't wait for it let's flip to the other side or the bottom half of the draw and sabalenka you'd have to say of all the the draws I think that you know when you when we talk about all these players there's still a lot of players in this section of the draw that can do really well one player obiously that's in the finals again of um eastor who plays really well on grass is Dar kakina she's in that section of the draw um but but just you know when you look at this section of the draw any sort of matchups that stand out for you any players that stand out for you there's there's a lot there's a couple of popcorn first rounds in this one too yeah I mean for me it it's it's Coco golf you know you've got Osaka in there everyone's kind of like like you know is she gonna bring that game that she played at the French Open against EGA to Wimbledon if she does like she's a threat um yeah for me the most fun matchup is Azarenka versus Sloan Stevens assuming assuming Sloan's got her game together and she's playing well those are two big names and two players that have had like tremendous Grand Slam success so um you know I we we'll see what happens there I hope Sloan can get through that as a rank is a a phenomenal player but I um you know I expect that one to be a fun match to watch yeah I mean um uh chinan Jang up the top there pav chova I was actually I actually hit some tennis balls today um Sam because you know I'm playing in the oldies I mean I I'm playing with my I practiced with my old doubles partner Sam stosa and my old player that I was coaching and we had so much fun we only hit for it half an hour because that's all we could do and Sam actually said to me after that her glutes were hurting her about an hour later so I I did my job I must have Miracle um but but anyway um but it was so fun and we were hitting next to page and COV and just us being able to hit without pressure is as you know it's so different and being at Wimbledon be a hit balls on that court and the courts are so perfect I mean I loved every second of it but pav jenova you certainly can play on all surfaces um so we'll see who gets through that section but she has to play Taylor Townsen in the first round so Taylor we know very good on all surfaces as well um but alexandrova she's a threat but guess who she plays raducanu who's had a couple of good wins she beat Jessica bagula last week I saw Jessica today and she said you know I was because part of me was thinking did she want to get out of there and get to Wimbledon and you know what it's like you don't want to right played too much tennis before and she goes no I was really trying so so obviously rakano is a threat um it'll be nice to see but she has a nightmare draw first round it'll be on Center Court or one so we'll see but it's nice to see kind of with some momentum and and kind of getting herself back in the thick of things and playing on a regular basis having consistent results so you're right that is a that is a nightmare draw playing alexandrova but it's on Center Court the crowd's going to behind ronu and so that's a somewhat of a popcorn match for me yeah for sure it is for me and there's no question it'll be fun there's a couple of little popcorn Al also in there bza playing mova mova is back thank goodness but pulled out of eastborn after winning um a couple of matches and on the advice of her team hopefully she's 100% coming into the tournament we know how well she can do here at this tournament it's probably one of her favorite surfaces um but the winner of that match will then play the winner of Andrea and fova two young players that are going to be playing forever against one another that's some popcorn tennis there with those two youngsters um so I'm looking forward to I mean Mir Andrea she can play on all surfaces but I don't know when you play someone about your age it it gets a little bit different it becomes a little bit more of a junior mentality so we'll see who gets through that section of the draw but Sabal Lanka's got to feel pretty good about that section but still there's some good players like kasaka Andrea not not an easy section for her to get through no but yeah like you're saying I like Sab right below sabalan we've got your girl uh palini off the French Open final how does her how does her game translate over to the grass it good she just you know she did well in eastor lost a tough um match to kasaka so she comes here feeling pretty confident um she plays against a player that she probably should beat on grass in cba's tormo but she can play on grass too likes to come into that it'll be that'll be actually a fun match I have to say um but Maddie Keys is in that section with kostuk who can who can get through to the quarters there mty Keys has played really well through the years on grass and certainly at Wimbledon she knows how to play well here um she she lost a tough match today but look the bottom line is you've got Azarenka you've got Emma Navaro um hopefully she can figure out a way to do well on the grass and I think she will probably get through that section but someone in there is also kolina plova who made the finals against ashb a couple of years ago who's not even seated so the women's draw is just stacked with so many great players and I have to say not an easy first round for Coco goof she plays against Caroline Caroline dohy another American never fun to play an American no tell Aug massive game she probably one of the five biggest serves in This Woman's draw dohy and she's gonna go out there and swing away and if things are landing in that's gonna be a tough one for coko and like you said like we were saying earlier it's the first round match no one comes out first round a lot of times and just plays lights out so if if Doh high can kind of go swing for swing and hold her serve the pressure kind of goes over to Koko but if kok gets through that I like her to make a pretty deep run I think she's gonna be confident gonna play well um and I and I like her to kind of you know make a semi-final or hopefully even more than that yeah and I I saw her practicing today she was on 18 as well um and looking really relaxed and and pretty happy