-
Kerber: One to watch
Ana Ivanovic is the top seed in the Wimbledon women's singles and Venus Williams is the defending champion, having won her fourth title last year.
While the focus is likely to be on the top names in the latter stages of the tournament, we take a look at the emerging talents to look out for in the first week.
Angelique Kerber
Kerber broke into the top 100 for the first time last year and even climbed as high as 67th. She has struggled to maintain her place among the elite in 2008 but still has plenty of time to reverse that. The 20-year-old is arguably Germany's best hope of emulating the great Steffi Graf as a Wimbledon champion, though the left-hander will be delighted just to win a match at SW19 this year.
Michaella Krajicek
Like older half-brother Richard, who won the men's singles title in 1996, Krajicek loves the grass of Wimbledon and played superbly on her way to the quarter-finals last year. One of her three singles titles came on the lawns of Den Bosch two years ago and she was a junior Wimbledon semi-finalist in 2004. The 19-year-old has endured a miserable year but picked up her first wins of the season in the warm-up events and a favourable draw could see her reach week two once again.
Tamira Paszek
A potential Wimbledon champion of the future, it is not outside the realms of possibility for Paszek to upset the odds this year. Aged just 16 at 2007's championships, the Austrian went all the way to the fourth round. She was also runner-up in the girl's singles in 2005. This year has not been quite so spectacular, though she came close to a landmark victory against Jelena Jankovic at the Australian Open when she squandered three match points.
Agnieszka Radwanska
Paszek's conqueror in the 2005 girl's final has gone from strength to strength since, breaking into the top 20 in the world and reaching her first grand slam quarter-final at the Australian Open in January. A baseliner whose favourite surfaces are clay and grass, the 20-year-old from Poland reached the fourth round of Wimbledon at her first attempt in 2006 and round three last year.
Urszula Radwanska
As the name suggests, Urszula is the younger sister of Agnieszka, proving the tennis gene ran in the family by winning the girl's singles at Wimbledon last year. Three years Agnieszka's junior, she has not quite managed to replicate her sibling's sensational progress but has maintained a steady climb up the rankings. She has also forged a successful doubles partnership with Agnieszka and the pair could yet become the European equivalent of the Williams sisters.
Agnes Szavay
Szavay was WTA Newcomer of the Year in 2007 and the 19-year-old's march up the rankings has continued this year. The top 10 is beckoning for the Hungarian, whose breakthrough grand slam came at last year's US Open, where she reached the quarter-finals. It is hard to assess how she may fare at Wimbledon though, with grass not one of her favourite surfaces.
