Now we can see how much things have changed for Simona Halep in the last 12 months. In 2013, she came here unseeded and lost in the second round to Li Na. In 2014, as the No. 3 seed, she heads up her own quarter of the draw.
What Halep can do with it is anyone’s guess. The French Open finalist has the movement and the shot-making for grass, but she retired from her tune-up in the Netherlands this week with shoulder soreness. Whatever her condition, Halep, who has never been out of the second round at Wimbledon, has what appears to be a smooth road to the quarterfinals. She starts against Brazil’s Teliana Pereira, and the highest seed in her half is Carla Suarez Navarro.
The other side of this section has a Serbian flavor: Jelena Jankovic and Ana Ivanovic are the two top seeds. Jankovic is coming off a bad loss to Madison Keys, while Ivanovic won her grass-court warm-up last week in Birmingham without dropping a set. Each faces some danger in their openers, Jankovic from Kaia Kanepi, Ivanovic from Francesca Schiavone.
Tougher for Ivanovic could be a second-rounder against former Wimbledon semifinalist Jie Zheng, who beat her here in 2008. Even tougher than that is a possible third-rounder with Sabine Lisicki, last year’s runner-up here. Ivanovic won their only meeting, on clay, in Stuttgart this year, but Lisicki specializes in Wimbledon. One piece of good news for Ana: Lucie Safarova is nowhere near her.
Teen dreamers: Belinda Bencic, Vicky Duval, Donna Vekic, Taylor Townsend, and Madison Keys are all in this section. Keys looks to be the most dangerous at the moment.
First-round match to watch: Madison Keys vs. Monica Puig
Sleeper: Sabine Lisicki. In the absence of last year’s champion, Marion Bartoli, the woman Bartoli beat in the final will open the women’s draw on Centre Court on Tuesday. Lisicki's last memory there is a bad one, but she loves this place nonetheless.