Summer Olympics 2012: 10 Women Tennis Players to Watch at the Games

We won’t know who is going to compete in London this summer until June 11. The Top 56 in the Association of Tennis Professionals and Women's Tennis Association singles rankings as of June 11, 2012 will automatically qualify for a place in the draw, according to the rules set by the International Tennis Federation.

However, no nation will be allowed to send more than four singles players. Russia is most affected by this regulation because it has seven women in the Top 56. Two-time Grand Slam champion Svetlana Kuznetsova will not be eligible. Same goes for Nadia Petrova and Ekaterina Makarova.

To be honest, all of the players in Top 10 should be looked at as serious contenders. No single player has dominated the field in this or last year. Therefore, I would not be surprised if Francesca Schiavone won. I just don’t believe it’s going to happen.

The type of court matters a lot. Some players prefer clay (Rafael Nadal) and others prefer grass (Pete Sampras).

Grass courts are more slippery. Therefore, it can be challenging to trick the opponent by playing with a lot of movements.

The following is a list of players I consider realistic contenders for the gold medal. You may be surprised that some names are missing and that some unfamiliar players are listed.

Victoria Azarenka

It is true that she lost to Maria Sharapova in the Porsche Grand Prix in Stuttgart on April 29, but that doesn’t change the fact that Azarenka is still No. 1 in the world.

She has lost only one more game this year – the quarterfinal of the WTA Sony Ericsson Open in Miami against Marion Bartoli of France.

Azarenka is an all-court player but she is definitely doing best on hard courts. The grass court is not a mystery. She certainly has the skills to play on grass, but I’m not sure she has the patience to hit through a slow ball.

In 2008, she lost to 21st-seeded Nadia Petrova of Russia in the third round at Wimbledon. However, she made it to the semifinals last year.

Azarenka is especially proud when she plays for her country and not just for a singles title. This will be a factor in the way she plays once she is on the field.

Petra Kvitova

Current No. 3 in the world and current Wimbledon champion has got to be on this list. But that is just about the only reason why.

She hasn’t had a great season this year, and inconsistency has been a problem for her. She beat No. 15 Ana Ivanovic at the Australian Open but lost to No. 70 Venus Williams in the second round of the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami.

Let’s keep in mind that these tournaments are not grass courts. Wimbledon remains Kvitova’s best venue. She had a stellar season after winning the Grand Slam, and that should mean that she’s gotten better.

Power tennis can play a huge role on a grass court. I have to give Kvitova credit: She is strong. She hits the ball hard and flat. That certainly helped her last year. (That, and the fact that she hit a lot of serves into her opponent’s body.)

Tsvetana Pironkova

Tsvetana Pironkova is not as good as the other players on this list. She hasn’t had a good season so far, never getting though the third round of a tournament.

She is, however, best known for defeating Venus Williams three times at Grand Slam tournaments. Two of them were in Wimbledon. One was in the quarterfinal match in 2010. The other was in 2011 in the fourth round.  

She beat Vera Zvonareva the the third round in Wimbledon but lost the quarterfinal last year to the eventual champion Petra Kvitova.

Pironkova surprises when she plays on grass in England. I would not be shocked if she did it again.

Maria Sharapova

Maria Sharapova is always a contender. It doesn’t matter whether the court is grass or hard, she plays great tennis. I can argue that she also does well on clay because of her semi-final loss last year and in 2007, but that would be off-topic right now.

Sharapova won at Wimbledon in, what it seems like ages ago, in 2004. Let’s not forget, however, that the following year she reached the semifinals without dropping a set and lost to the eventual champion Venus Williams.

Sharapova is currently in good shape. She just won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Germany, beating Victoria Azarenka after losing to her twice this year. Sharapova has been consistent, reaching finals all season long.

She has the best success rate playing on grass: 83 percent.

Angelique Kerber

Angelique Kerber has improved a lot in the past six months. She has been doing consistently well in 2012, beating Maria Sharapova, Marion Bartoli, Jelena Jankovic and twice Caroline Wozniacki.

Kerber reached a Grand Slam semifinal at the US Open last year. She can’t be underestimated.

Kerber is doing a great job holding serve. But she makes up for it by adjusting her game to whomever she is playing against. She's a very smart player who knows her limitations and has found a way to turn them into advantages.

She is currently No. 14 in the world.

Agnieszka Radwanska

Doesn’t she have people talking about her mainly comparing her to Martina Hingis? They do one thing in common: they both play strategically, changing their shots a lot. Radwanska kind of has to, because she is not a very powerful player.

What is interesting about her is that she has the two finals she reached this season. One of them was against Maria Sharapova at the Sony Ericsson Open tournament.

Radwanska has lost seven matches in 2012, but five of them were against streaking No. 1 Victoria Azarenka.

The main reason why Radwanska is an Olympic contender is her strong mentality. She totally doesn’t seem to care if she is playing a Grand Slam winner. If she has a good game, she can beat anyone.

She is very creative in her returns, making her opponent run a lot. That is one of her best features and improves her chances of winning matches.

Serena Williams

Why do I think the 13-time Grand Slam winner can win at Wimbledon? She is Serena Williams and must never be written off any list.

She has had tough couple of seasons, but she is a fighter and she will be going for the gold medal. If she doesn’t choke, like she did in Beijing, I have no doubt she can win.

In the singles event in Beijing, Williams lost to eventual champion Elena Dementieva in the quarterfinals. Williams has won two Olympic gold medals in women's doubles with her sister Venus.

Christina McHale

Christina McHale cannot seriously be considered a gold medal contender. It will still be very interesting to watch her play.

The 19-year-old and No. 36 in the world gained a lot of experience just in the 2012 season. After all, she is the second-ranked female tennis player in the U.S. after Serena Williams.

She has lost eight out of 18 matches. On the surface, this looks bad, but half of them were very tight three-set matches.

McHale often puts out a gutsy performance, not giving up any balls down the line. She has surprised several times by beating former world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki in Cincinnati last August, Marion Bartoli in the 2011 U.S. Open and No. 21 Lucie Safarova in the 2012 Australian Open.

Kim Clijsters

Kim Clijsters missed the entire clay season because of a hip injury. If all goes well, she will compete in London.

The Summer Olympics this year will be her last competition. That is what she hinted a month ago, but it’s not hard to believe considering her injury history (abdomen, ankle, shoulder and wrist).

So even if she is not likely to win the gold, it will be worth watching the former No. 1 and 4-time Grand Slam champion.

She had already retired once in 2007 but came back two years later, winning the U.S. Open.

Clijsters could mark a great end of her career and win the Olympic gold. She has to listen to her body better and improve her serve. It was giving her problem at the Australian Open in January.

Samantha Stosur

Currently No. 6 in the world, Samantha Stosur is not playing her best tennis, but she certainly has great potential.

She won the U.S. Open last year when everyone thought of her as the underdog. After the win over Serena Willliams, she was thought of as the next superstar in tennis.

Maybe it was the pressure, but she didn’t live up to the hype. She is an experienced professional tennis player and should be able to just forget about what’s happened.

After disappointing at the Australian Open, losing at home in the first round, she got better. Her losses after that were against players like Serena Williams or Victoria Azarenka, certainly her level.

Stosur has gotten better with time. She led Australia's return to the Fed Cup World Group next year. She handed the nation an unassailable 3-0 lead by dismissing German world No.11 Andrea Petkovic 6-4 6-1 in Stuttgart.

As she is getting better, and the Games are only 86 days away, I would not be amazed if she surprised again.