Maria Sharapova (9/4) – She’s having a pretty sunny year after breaking Justine Henin’s 32 match winning streak and going on to win the Australian Open without dropping a set. She won the Singles title at the Qatar Total Open. Her first loss of the year was to Svetlana Kuznetsova in the semifinals of the Pacific Life Open. So it comes as no surprise that she’s favoured by the bookies at 9/4 (general). There are some, however, who inquire after Maria’s shoulder after a spot of bother at the DFS Classic in Birmingham. Also take into consideration the rocky ride she took us on at the French Open.

Serena Williams (5/2) – Knocked out of the Australian Open by Jankovic at the quarter-finals (her fourth consecutive loss in the quarter finals of a Grand slam singles tournament). She and her Sister were then knocked out of the doubles event in the quarter-finals. After the Australian Open she cancelled her next four tournaments. A rocky start to 2008 for Serena, so it comes as a surprise that she is seeded as no.2 to win this tournament. Ladbrokes and Coral have her at 3/1 while Betfair is on 4.3/1. I find it hard to believe that she’s a contender for the final this year.

Ana Ivanovic (5/1) – Ana has shown spectactular performance this year making both grand slam finals and winning the French Open. Now ranked No.1 in the world (partly due to Henin’s retirement) I reckon she’s good value at 5/1 general. Although it would be interesting to see her up against Dementieva (ranked 10th favourite) at Wimbledon as she’s already lost to her twice this year.

Venus Williams (9/2) – 9/2 at Bet365 and BlueSq and 6/1 at Betfair means there’s a lot more contesting between the top few players for the favourite spot than in the men’s event. It would be unwise to disregard anyone in the top four until you’ve really knuckled down to your research. Venus squeezed in a win over Maria Sharapova early on in the year at the Hong Kong Exhibition Tournament but yielded a win to Ivanovic in the Australian Open. It’s a tricky call especially as the bookies rate her 4th favourite.

Jelena Jankovic (14/1) – Its hard to see Jelena come through for Wimbledon especially as she doesn’t have any previous Singles Grand slams under her belt. Her talents lie elsewhere on the clay court or in the doubles event. Betfair rates Jankovic for an unoptimistic 16.5/1 a large margin from the top four seeded. Ladbrokes have her at 14/1.