Wimbledon 2011: Maria Sharapova Can Restore World Order in Women's Tennis

Men’s tennis has an epic and ongoing fight between Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. Women’s tennis has...well, what do they have?

Women’s tennis lacks a person in charge. The world’s number one has not even reached a quarterfinal in Wimbledon ever (and it would not happen this year either), let alone won a Grand Slam.

The world’s number two, continuing her strong return from both retirement and motherhood by winning this year's Australian Open and taking her fourth major since 2009, is ”out of order” with an injured right ankle.

Na Li, the first Asian Grand Slam winner when she won at Roland Garros this year and world’s number four, was beaten in the second round.

The Williams sisters, who have won nine of the last 11 Wimbledon titles, were supposed to create some stamina at the Center Court in London this year, but they were both sent out in the first week.

Enter the ”old woman” Maria Sharapova, 24 summers and the oldest girl in the tournament. Finally back in the top 10 after her shoulder operation two and a half years ago, the Wimbledon winner from 2004 could restore some kind of ”sense” in women’s tennis.

Sharapova's latest Grand Slam victory lies back in Australian Open in 2008. After that, most of her fighting has taken place outside the tennis courts, trying to get back from the surgery to repair a torn rotate cuff. A semifinal spot in the French Open this year and a place in the final in this year's Wimbledon still open indicates that women’s tennis could be on its way back on the right track.

In spite of a 10 months period away from the game in 2008 and 2009, the Russian girl with residence in Florida has done a lot of catching up. This year, she has changed her rackets, her serve and almost every other part of her game. She has even changed her coach. The result showed off in Rome where she won on clay, just before she reached the semifinals in Paris.

This week, she is seeded five, but the bookies believe she’s the one to take the title this year at Wimbledon, and after she inflicted Dominika Cibulkova with a shellacking of 6-1, 6-1, few can see who would be in her way for the rest of the tournament.

Only the unseeded German Sabine Lisicki stands between Sharapova and a center court crash with either fourth seeded Victoria Azarenka or eighth seeded Petra Kvitova.

If Sharapova wins her second Wimbledon title, it could be a giant step towards a restoring of the world order in women’s tennis.  She still has at least four or five good years left in top tennis, and from what she has shown so far in this event (where she hasn't drop a set yet), she looks like a serious contender against Clijsters for the top spot in the world.