Monday 1 July 2019 11:23, UK
The last 10 Grand Slams have seen nine different female winners, proving that the sport is more open than ever before. Who will win the Wimbledon title?
The 126th edition of the women's singles is upon us and it promises to be another highly-competitive tournament.
Here, we pick out the title contenders...
The Australian's ascent to the top of the game culminated in her winning the French Open earlier this month and her results this year on all surfaces make her the player to beat. She is a former Wimbledon junior champion and has won other titles on grass, including the Nature Valley Classic in Birmingham which took her to No 1.
She will be a real threat as she looks to post back-to-back Grand-Slam titles.
Born in Osaka to father Leonard Francois, from Haiti, and mother Tamaki Osaka, the Japanese player is the only woman to have won more than one Grand Slam in the last 10, having been triumphant at the 2018 US Open and Australian Open this year. She is one of the hottest properties in the game and aged 21, with a big selection of weapons at her disposal, has many more years of success ahead of her.
What marks the great champions is not just their remarkable abilities with a racket but the way they are motivated both by successes and disappointments, and there appears no doubt Osaka has that. This will be the third time Osaka has played at the All England Club, having won two matches on both her previous visits.
After being the most consistent player on tour for a good 18 months, Halep's form has dipped since she finally ended her wait for a Grand Slam at the French Open last year.
She has failed to get past the quarter-finals of her last four major tournaments, but she will still be a contender at Wimbledon, where she can boast two quarter-final and one semi-final appearance.
Kerber, a losing finalist in 2016, went one better last year by lifting the Venus Rosewater Dish with a demolition of Serena Williams in the final.
Results since then have been patchy, but she has a special relationship with the All England Club and because of her tenacity and superb defensive skills, she will be in the mix for a second title.
It would simply not be possible to compile a list of contenders and exclude arguably the greatest player of all time. The 23-time Grand Slam winner has won seven of those at Wimbledon and was a beaten finalist in 2018 in her second major tournament back after giving birth.
She may be 37 and struggling with niggling injuries, but she will still be a major force.
