Tag: Australia

Graphic Courtesy of Natalie Dettmer

WOW Sports Now Providing Coverage for Tennis Starting With Wimbledon

WOW Sports is happy to announce that we have expanded our coverage to now include tennis. With Wimbledon starting tomorrow we thought it was the perfect time to officially add our second sport. We will still continue our coverage of the Women’s World Cup followed up with overall soccer coverage.

We will provide current world rankings, tournament insight with schedules and analysis. Feel free to go to our “Tennis” page and check out our coverage.

Tennis has a rich history and is beloved by millions of people. Wimbledon is a staple tournament in the sport known for its fresh grass courts and all white apparel requirement.

128 women will compete in the singles portion of Wimbledon starting on July 1st and the final two players will square off on July 13th.

There are 36 different nations represented at the tournament with the most being from the United States having 18 athletes. The highest ranked American at Wimbledon is Sloane Stephens at ninth with Serena Williams not far behind ranked 11th.

The number one overall ranking belongs to Australian, Ashleigh Barty. She clinched the top seed by winning the Birmingham Classic on June 24th. The 23-year-old will look to add to her recent slew of victories most notably her win at the 2019 French Open.

When Barty was named the top seed she dethroned Japanese player, Naomi Osaka, who had the infamous win over Serena Williams at the 2018 US Open and followed it up with a win at the 2019 Australian Open.

Angelique Kerber of Germany currently ranked fifth in the world will look to retain her Wimbledon title she won in 2018. Kerber defeated S. Williams last year in the final match, but if the two win their matches respectively they would face off in the semifinals this year.

The top half of the Wimbledon bracket does seem to be more daunting and full of heavy favorites compared to the bottom half. Barty, S. Williams, Kerber, Kiki Bertens (ranked fourth), Stephens and Petra Kvitova (ranked sixth) all encompass the top half. While Osaka, Arvna Sabalenka (ranked tenth), Simona Halep (ranked seventh), Karolina Pliskova (ranked third) and Elina Svitolina (ranked eighth) make up the bottom half of the bracket.

Nine of the last ten Wimbledon champions are all in the top half of the bracket and Marion Bartoli is the only exception to the last ten years winning the 2013 Wimbledon title, but she has since retired. Venus Williams (ranked 44th) is the only player on the bottom half the bracket to win Wimbledon since the turn of the century winning in 2000, 2001, 2007 and 2008.

There have only been nine different Wimbledon winners since 2000 with the majority of those titles going to S. Williams who has seven.

Will a new champion be crowned this year or will the usual winners prove Wimbledon is made for the experienced veterans? Find out by staying up to date on WOW Sports and by watching the matches on ESPN with coverage starting tomorrow at 6:00 am ET on ESPN3 and ESPN+.

Photo Courtesy of Sven Mandel

First Day of the Knockout Round Does Not Disappoint

The group games proved to be exciting and create some surprise endings. But narrowing the field of teams down to 16 has only increased the level of competition.

Germany and Nigeria were the first to play in the Knockout Round this year. Nigeria was the last team to move on and they were given the task of trying to beat the 2nd ranked team in the world. Both teams looked dangerous early with chances on goal. But it was Germany’s pressure that had them take the lead. Germany was awarded a corner, their 5th corner at that time in the match. They had been doing short corners, but this time they decided to utilize Alexandra Popp’s height. They crossed the ball right to her head and she knocked it in giving Germany the 1-0 lead in the 20th minute.

Germany would double their lead just seven minutes later after they were awarded a penalty kick following a VAR review. Sara Daebritz shot the ball into the lower right corner just out of reach of the Nigerian goalkeeper. The game would settle down and Nigeria would get a few chances of their own, but nothing solidified for them. Germany looked like the superior side most of the game. They added an insurance goal to their lead in 82nd minute. Some poor passing by the Nigerian defenders caused a turnover just outside their 18-yard box. Lea Schüller collected the ball and sent a one time shot into the back of the net.

The 3-0 scoreline would be the final. Despite losing this game the head coach for Nigeria, Thomas Dennerby, described their play at the World as, “Showed that Nigeria as a team has improved a lot. We are of course not satisfied with going out… We still improved the team and to play games like this is extremely important for the future.” He kept emphasizing the need for them to keep playing games in the FIFA window and push for them to improve outside the World Cup. Hopefully Nigeria’s federation can see the same need as the coach and push to have funding and support.

Germany will play the winner of Sweden vs Canada which takes place on Monday at 3 pm ET.

The second game of the day had a much closer scoreline and drama throughout. Australia nearly scored in the first 30 seconds of the game, but Sam Kerr shot the ball just wide of the net. There were various chances for both teams, but Norway finally got the first goal of the game in the 31st minute. A through ball just out of reach of the Australian defender fell perfectly to Isabell Herlovsen who shot the ball after one touch into the right side of the goal.

Australia felt like they were going to get their equalizer either from the run of play or a penalty kick. Initially the referee awarded a penalty late in the first half but the referee overturned it. There were Australian players on the ground multiple times inside their offensive box where they felt a penalty should be awarded, but the referee did not issue one.

The Matildas would find their goal in the 83rd minute from Elie Kellond-Knight. She took a corner kick right into goal with a nice curving ball.

The evenly matched game rightfully went into extra time where the drama and suspense would continue. In the 104th minute of play Lisa-Marie Utland of Norway was heading to goal with just Alanna Kennedy of Australia to beat. Kennedy bodied Utland and took her down. The referee saw the foul as a goal stopping foul and gave Kennedy a red card. Kennedy pleaded her case, but after VAR reviewed the play, it was confirmed she had to be sent off. With the entire second half of extra time to still be played Australia knew getting to a penalty shootout down a player was going to be a challenge.

Australia held their own, anchored by their goalkeeper, Lydia Williams, who made save after save to keep her team alive. They held on just long enough to get the game to a penalty shootout. Norway elected to go first and Caroline Graham Hansen easily scored her penalty. Kerr came up to take the first one for Australia, their captain and best offensive player. She soared the ball over the goal. Momentum immediately swung towards Norway who would not miss a single penalty meanwhile Australia only converted one of their three. Norway would win 1-1 with a 4-1 penalty advantage.

The ending felt similar to the 2016 Rio Olympics when Australia lost to Brazil in the quarter finals in a penalty kick shootout. Kennedy who was sent off with a red in today’s game was the player who missed the final penalty in 2016.

The heartbreak of Australia was met with jubilation from Norway.

Embed from Getty Images

Embed from Getty Images

After the game Kerr expressed her frustrations describing the game as “Obviously disappointing we’re out. We’d hoped to come much further, but we’ll learn from it and we’ll come back.” The early exit topped off a surprising second place finish in their group. The Matildas will look to regroup and focus on qualifying for the 2020 Olympics.

Norway advances and will play the winner of England vs Cameroon that is played tomorrow at 11:30 am ET. Norway may face another game that ends in penalties and they will look to their composure and confidence they had in this game should the time come again.