Wimbledon 2022: Women’s Seeding

The oldest and most prestigious tournament in all of professional tennis has returned to our screens and for the lucky few who are courtside in London, England. 

Between June 20-July 10, 2022, the world’s most elite tennis athletes will arrive inside the infamous Wimbledon grass courts and attempt to make history. 

You would anticipate that most of the attention will point towards the men’s single competition, but the women’s single seedings have exposed some intriguing factors. The seeds for the Wimbledon 2022 women’s singles draw were released, with a fresh top eight supported by a ton of experience for good measure. 

The tournament has undoubtedly been damaged by the removal of Russian and Belarusian players, as many high-profile competitors have withdrawn due to their nationality or because the slam has seen a stripping of its ATP ranking points. 

Women’s Singles Wimbledon 2022 Top Seed 

The top seed in the women’s Wimbledon 2022 singles competition is formidable and prepared to extend her dominance. Iga Swiatek, 21, is the sport’s most in-form player as she heads into Wimbledon undefeated in her previous 35 appearances and most recently lifted the French Open trophy for a second time during her short yet illustrious career.  

However, the glaring flaw in Iga’s game would be her grass experience. She’s played a mere eight tour-level matches on the green blades – splitting those outings with a 4-4 record – and was notably knocked out of Wimbledon in 2021 by Ons Jabeur in the fourth round. With that said, I wouldn’t be quick to doubt the Polish star, as this year’s tournament could become her stomping ground to prove the doubters wrong and assert her elite-level status on the grandest stage. 

The seeds trailing Swiatek are fresh entrants to the top eight, as numerous high-ranked players will be absent from this year’s competition. The 2021 Wimbledon champion Ashleigh Barty retired from the sport in March, and Naomi Osaka was forced to pull out due to an ongoing injury. 

Wimbledon’s 2014 finalist Eugenie Bouchard announced she wouldn’t be competing due to Wimbledon’s removal of ranking points this year, but she also hasn’t competed in over a year. 

World No.6 and last year’s semi-finalist Aryna Sabalenka will be absent due to the ban on Russian and Belarusian athletes, as well as world No.13 Daria Kasatkina, No.20 Victoria Azarenka, No.22 Veronika Kudermetova, and No.28 Ekaterina Alexandrova.  

The aforementioned absentees will dramatically affect the landscape in this year’s top five seedings. Anett Kontaveit, Ons Jabeur, Paula Badosa, and Maria Sakkari hold minimal experience and success at Wimbledon. Jabeur is the lone top-5 seeded player who’s surpassed the fourth round. 

Sportsbooks will provide an exciting set of betting odds, as this year’s Wimbledon competition could deliver unpredictable results due to the seedings. New York sports betting apps could see an influx of interest in their No.8 seeded Jessica Pegula, an NYC native flying under the radar as a dark horse of the competition. 

From a betting perspective, No.6 seed Karolina Pliskova adds a level of intrigue, as does Pegula’s fellow American Danielle Collins, who owns the No.7 seed. Neither American competitor has gone beyond Wimbledon’s third round, and while inexperience is apparent, it also supplies the opportunity for breakout moments on the biggest stage. 

Serena Williams 

Following a year away from the sport, Serena Williams made a winning return when she teamed up with Ons Jabeur at Eastbourne. 

With Wimbledon less than one week away, one consistent factor is echoing in the women’s locker room ahead of the competition; nobody wants to face her. 

Paula Badosa, the world’s No.3 ranked player, recently admitted she is “praying” not to be matched with the American during her time on the grass at Wimbledon. 

“Of course, I think it surprised everyone,” Badosa commented in response to Williams’ comeback announcement. “But it’s very good to have her back, and it really amazed me how she has all this hunger for the game, so I think that’s very inspirational.” 

The Spanish standout was glad to see the Serena on the tour but also admitted that nobody on the WTA Tour wanted to face the 40-year-old despite the twelve-month layoff: “It’s nice to have her back, and I hope she can be back for much more time because I think she does very good for tennis. But on the other side, of course, I don’t want to play against her, so I hope the draw goes for other players because, of course, no one wants to play Serena [especially] on grass. So yeah, let’s pray for that,” she laughed.