Maria Sharapova

Her strong baseline game is lethal when firing on all cylinders, especially on slick grass.

Age: 18

Country: Russia

Lives: Bradenton, Florida

Plays: Right-handed

Seed: 2

Grand slam titles: One (Wimbledon 2004)

Record at Wimbledon: 2004-winner, 2003-fourth round

The Siberian-born prodigy became the darling of Centre Court last year when she beat Serena Williams to win the title on only her second appearance at the All England Club.

Her powerful baseline game, honed at Nick Bollettieri's Florida production line, is lethal when firing on all cylinders, especially on slick grass courts.

Struggled at times at the warm-up tournament in Birmingham last week, but showed her fighting qualities to retain the title and stretch her winning sequence on grass to 17.

Quarter-final defeat by Justine Henin-Hardenne at the French Open scuppered her chances of taking over as world number one.