Last Minute Wimbledon Women's Preview

It may only be a few hours before Wimbledon officially gets underway, so let me throw together a quick preview of the women's draw. It's not quite as appetizing a draw as the men's but there are some excellent match-ups down the road.

Serena Williams, the top seed and defending champion, has something of a tricky draw. It's not as littered with landmines as Nadal's, but it's still going to be a challenge. She opens against Portuguese teen Michelle Larcher De Brito, and then gets will probably get Chakvetadze. After that, she may get Safarova, followed by either Hantuchova, or former champion Sharapova. That's an enticing round of 16 match if I've ever seen one. In the quarters, I expect Serena to find either Aggie Radwanska, Na Li, or Svetlana Kuznetsova. Any of those matches could be tough if Serena's having an off-day, but it's tough to see Serena not making it through to the semifinals.

The second quarter is ostensibly Caroline Wozniacki's, but she hasn't been showing the greatest form lately, so it may be that the sixth seed Sam Stosur is actually the favorite. Stosur's net-rushing, serve-and-volley style of play that she honed during her years as a doubles player should serve her well here. This section also has Azarenka, who showed some of her best form of the year in the past week. Watch for Kimiko Date Krumm to upset 31st seed Alexandra Dulgheru in the first round.

The third quarter is probably the toughest, because in addition to having fourth seed Jelena Jankovic, it also has Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin. One of those three is almost certainly going to make it through to the semis, which is a shame for the other players in this section. Zvonareva and Alona Bondarenko are here, but I don't see them getting through these tougher players. Keep an eye on American teen Alison Riske against Belgian number three (they all ended up in this section) Yanina Wickmayer.

The final quarter of the draw features second-seeded Venus Williams most prominently, of course. But it also has French Open champion Frnacesca Schiavone, former French Open champion Ana Ivanovic, and former Wimbledon finalist Marion Bartoli. It had Dinara Safina, but she pulled out of the tournament, and her spot was filled by Melanie Oudin. It's a pretty exciting quarter - lots of good players, but other than Venus, not really very many serious threats.

I think it's likely that we'll have Venus Williams playing Justine Henin in one semifinal, Seran Williams playing Sam Stosur in the other. As much as I would like Justine to get her title, she's just not in good enough form right now, in my opinion. We may have another Williams-Williams final, just like we have had for the last few years. But that's a ways off, and the women's game is sufficiently topsy-turvy right now, that I wouldn't put a lot of money on that outcome.

For now, there's nothing to do but let the games begin!