Andy Murray: High hopes for first Wimbledon title
Andy Murray faces a tough battle to reach the
Wimbledon final again with either Rafa Nadal or Roger Federer
potentially standing in his way in the semis.
Murray - who will
take on big-serving German Benjamin Becker in the first round - Federer
andNadal are all in a brutal bottom half of the draw. They will all be
in action on a mouth-watering Monday, the first day of the tournament.
But Murray has at least avoided the worst case scenario of facing
Nadal in the last eight. Instead, fifth seed Nadal is likely to face
Federer in a titanic quarter-final, with Murray their probable
semi-final opponent.
If the draw goes according to seedings, Murray will face Janko
Tipsarevic in the last 16, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the quarter-finals
before taking on either Federer or Nadal.
The quarter-final draw would be Novak Djokovic v Tomas Berdych, David
Ferrer v Juan Martin Del Potro, Nadal v Federer and Tsonga v Murray.
Murray feeling good
The biggest winner is Djokovic, who could be facing a semi-final
against clay court specialist Ferrer. His biggest rivals - Murray, Nadal
and Federer - are all in the other half.
Murray beat world No 95 Becker 6-4 7-6 (7-3) at Queen's last week -
the only time the two have met - and assuming he gets past the
32-year-old German, he could face another Briton, James Ward, in the
second round.
Tommy Robredo, the experienced Spaniard, could be next before things
become decidedly difficult with Tipsarevic, although the Serb has had a
bad year by his standards.
None of the top five seeds should be troubled in the first round.
Djokovic opens up against Germany's Florian Mayer in the first round.
Nadal takes on the Belgian Steve Darcis. Ferrer - the fourth seed and
beaten finalist at the French Open - plays Martin Alund and Federer will
face the veteran Romanian Victor Hanescu.
There are two other British men in the draw. Wimbledon debutant Kyle
Edmund takes on Polish giant Jerzy Janowicz, who is ranked 22nd. Ward,
the world No 216, takes on world No 74 Lu Yen-hsun and he may fancy his
chances of setting up an all-British showdown with Murray.
There are some intriguing first round matches. Leyton Hewitt, the
2002 champion is paired with the in-form Stanislas Wawrinka and the
dangerous Marco Baghdatis faces Croatian Marin Cilic.
MEN'S DRAW
1-N DJOKOVIC (Srb) v F Mayer (Ger)
B Reynolds (USA) v S Johnson (USA)
B Kavcic (Slo) v J-L Struff (Ger)
R Harrison (USA) v 28-J CHARDY (Fra)
19-G SIMON (Fra) v F Lopez (Esp)
R Berankis (Ltu) v P-H Mathieu (Fra)
W Odesnik (USA) v J Wang (Tpe)
D Tursunov (Rus) v T HAAS (Ger)
9-R GASQUET (Fra) v M Granollers (Esp)
A Haider-Maurer (Aut) v G Soeda (Jpn)
J Blake (USA) v T de Bakker (Ned)
B Tomic (Aus) v 21-S QUERREY (USA)
27-K ANDERSON (Rsa) v O Rochus (Bel)
P Petzschner (Ger) v M Przysiezny (Pol)
D Brands (Ger) v D Gimeno Traver (Esp)
M Klizan (Svk) v 27-T BERDYCH (Cze)
4-D FERRER (Esp) v M Alund (Arg)
R Bautista Agut (Esp) v T Gabashvili (RUS)
H Zeballos (Arg) v S Giraldo (Col)
G Elias (Por) v 26-A DOLGOPOLOV (Ukr)
17-M RAONIC (Can) v C Berlocq (Arg)
A Kuznetsov (USA) v I Sijsling (Ned)
J Duckworth (Aus) v D Kudla (USA)
I Dodig (Cro) v 16-P KOHLSHREIBER (Ger)
12-K NISHIKORI (Jpn) v M Ebden (Aus)
L Mayer (Arg) v A Bedene (Slo)
M LLodra (Fra) v J Nieminen (Fin)
D Istomin (Uzb) v 23-A SEPPI (Ita)
29-G DIMITROV (Bul) v S Bolelli (Ita)
G Zemlja (Slo) v M Russell (USA)
G Pella (Arg) v J Levine (Can)
A Ramos (Esp) v 8-JM Del POTRO (Arg)
5-R NADAL (Esp) v S Darcis (Bel)
L Kubot (Pol) v I Andreev (Rus)
Stephane Robert (FRA) v Alejandro Falla (COL)
A Ungur (Rom) v 25-B PAIRE (Fra)
18-J ISNER (USA) v E Donskoy (Rus)
P Andujar (Esp) v A Mannarino (Fra)
D Brown (Ger) v G Garcia Lopez (Esp)
L Hewittt (Aus) v 11-S WAWRINKA (Swi)
15-N ALMAGRO (Esp) v J Zopp (Est)
M Matosevic (Aus) v G Rufin (Fra)
R Stepanek (Cze) v M Reid (AUS)
K Edmund (Gbr) v 24-J JANOWICZ (Pol)
30-F FOGNINI (Ita) v J Melzer (Aut)
J Reister (Ger) v L Rosol (Cze)
R Dutra Silva (Bra) v S Stakhovsky (Ukr)
V Hanescu (Rom) v 3-R FEDERER (Swi)
6-J-W TSONGA (Fra) v D Goffin (Bel)
E Roger-Vasselin (Fra) v E Gulbis (Lat)
F Verdasco (Esp) v X Malisse (Bel)
T Kamke (Ger) v 31-J BENNETEAU (Fra)
22-J MONACO (Arg) v B Knittel (Ger)
L Lacko (Svk) v R Ram (USA)
K de Schepper (Fra) v P Lorenzi (Ita)
M Baghdatis (Cyp) v 10-M CILIC (Cro)
14-J TIPSAREVIC (Srb) v V Troicki (Srb)
A Kuznetsov (Rus) v A Montanes (Esp)
M Gicquel (Fra) v V Pospisil (Can)
R Haase (Ned) v 20-M YOUZHNY (Rus)
32-T ROBREDO (Esp) v A Bogmolov (Rus)
N Mahut (Fra) v J Hajek (Cze)
J Ward (Gbr) v L Yen-Hsun (Tpe)
B Becker (Ger) v 2-A MURRAY (Gbr)