Maria Sharapova, the No. 3 seed, is seen by many experts as the likely winner of the tournament, which would be her fourth Grand Slam and second Wimbledon, adding to the title she won as a teenager in 2004.
Sharapova began this year by winning her third Grand Slam at the Australian Open and is ranked No. 2 in the world by the Women's Tennis Association after Serbia's Anna Ivanovic, who is also the tournament's top seed.
The Russian women competing for this year's singles title also include Svetlana Kuznetsova (seeded 4), Yelena Dementyeva (5), Anna Chakvetadze (8), Dinara Safina (9), Vera Zvonareva (13), Maria Kirilenko (19), Nadezhada Petrova (21), Yelena Vesnina, Yekaterina Bychkova, Vera Dushevina, Alisa Kleibanova, Alla Kudryavtseva, Yekaterina Makarova, Anastasiya Pavlyuchenkova, Yevgeniya Rodina and Galina Voskoboyeva.
In comparison to the women's competition, there are only seven Russians in the men's singles: Nikolai Davydenko (seeded 4), Mikhail Yuzhny (17), Dmitry Tursunov, Marat Safin, Igor Andreyev, Igor Kunitsyn and Yevgeny Korolyov.
The 2008 Wimbledon tennis championship runs until July 6.
