As the Gentlemen’s semifinals and Ladies’ finals are now set for Wimbledon this year, it’s worth glancing at the truly diverse set of players that competed in Wimbledon this year.  France had the most players in the men’s field and Russia in the women’s.  Ironically in this Olympic year when Beijing hosts the 2008 Games, Chinese player, Jie Zheng, who requested and received a wildcard, made it all the way to the semis.  For Zheng, who already has a Wimbledon doubles title and Olympic Gold Medal in doubles, it was a remarkable comeback from ankle surgery in 2007.  Rainer Schuettler became only the third German alongside Wimbledon champions, Boris Becker and Michael Stich, to reach the Wimbledon semis.  It was a tough tournament for American men with both, Andy Roddick and James Blake losing early and none reaching the second week.  However, Venus Williams and Serena Williams will “raise the American flag” as they compete again on Saturday for the Wimbledon title.  Meanwhile, Serbian stars, Novak Djokovic, Ana Ivanovic and Jelena Jankovic all “came down to earth” as none reached the Wimbledon quarterfinals.  Finally, Wimbledon chose not to award all of its wildcards to British players and thereby “up their numbers” in the draw.  The new “world order” in tennis is reflected below in the chart which lists the main draw singles players for each country.

Country                             Men                 Women

Argentina                            9                       1
Australia                             2                       3
China                                  0                       5
Croatia                                5                       0
Czech Republic                    6                      10
France                               14                      13
Germany                            12                       4
Israel                                  1                        2
Italy                                    6                       6
Japan                                  1                       3
Romania                               1                       4
Russia                                  7                      17
Serbia                                  5                       2
Spain                                  12                       5
Sweden                                3                       1
UK                                       4                       5
US                                      11                       8
Ukraine                                1                        7