Fri Jun 20 09:12:47 2008

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Federer's Wimbledon draw loaded

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Wimbledon, England (Sports Network) - Roger Federer's quest for a sixth straight Wimbledon crown is fraught with potential danger, as five former Grand Slam champions have been placed in the Swiss superstar's half of the draw.

Joining the 12-time Grand Slam champion in the top half are reigning Australian Open champ Novak Djokovic of Serbia, former Wimbledon and U.S. Open champ Lleyton Hewitt of Australia, 2002 Australian winner Thomas Johansson of Sweden, two-time Grand Slam champ Marat Safin of Russia and 2003 French Open winner Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain.

By contrast, Spain's Rafael Nadal, coming off his fourth straight French Open crown and the Wimbledon runner-up to Federer the last two years, has just one other Grand Slam winner in his half of the draw -- former U.S. Open champ Andy Roddick of the United States.

The top-seeded Federer will open with Slovakia's Dominik Hrbaty, who's lost in the first round at Wimbledon each of the last two years, and he could meet France's Gael Monfils in the third round. Monfils gave Federer a battle in the semifinals of the French Open a few weeks back.

Hewitt, who won the Wimbledon crown in 2002, could meet Federer in the fourth round. Federer, though, dispatched the former world No. 1 star in the 2005 Wimbledon semifinals and the 2004 quarterfinals.

Federer's quarterfinal opponent could be fifth-seeded David Ferrer, although the Spaniard has never advanced past the fourth round.

Djokovic, who lost to Nadal in the Wimbledon semifinals last year, has his own potential pitfalls before a possible semifinal this year with Federer. The third seed will square off against Germany's Michael Berrer in the first round and could meet Safin in the second round. Safin, though, hasn't made it past the fourth round of a Grand Slam since his Aussie Open crown in 2005.

A fourth-round foe for Djokovic could be Switzerland's Stanislas Wawrinka, the 13th seed, or Ferrero, who was a quarterfinal loser to Federer last year at the All England Club. Quarterfinal matchups could include Johansson, a semifinalist at Wimbledon in 2005, hard-serving Croat Ivo Karlovic, or seventh-seeded Argentine David Nalbandian, who hasn't been much of a factor at Wimbledon since his surprising run to the final in his first appearance in 2002.

Nadal's try for a Grand Slam title that isn't played on clay will begin with German qualifier Andreas Beck, with a potential third-round match against another German in Nicolas Kiefer. Fourth-round opponents could be Russia's Mikhail Youzhny or Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic, while Scotland's Andy Murray or France's Richard Gasquet could be quarterfinal foes for the second- seeded Nadal, who is coming off his first career grass court title at the Queen's Club.

If the sixth-seeded Roddick is to meet Nadal in the semifinals, he doesn't have much big name competition early. He'll open with Argentina's Eduardo Schwank and could meet Russia's Dmitry Tursunov in the third round.

However, a possible fourth-round opponent could be fellow American James Blake, this year's ninth seed. Fourth-seeded Nikolay Davydenko could be the quarterfinal matchup for Roddick, who lost to Gasquet in the Wimbledon quarters last year and was Federer's final victim in 2004 and 2005.

Federer has won 59 straight grass court matches and is trying to become the first man in the Open-era (1968) to win six straight Wimbledon titles.