Roger Federer could potentially have to beat Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic if he is to retain his crown at The Championships. The Swiss was drawn in the same half as Murray and the same quarter as Nadal on Friday at the All England Club, Wimbledon.
World No. 1 Djokovic will begin his quest for a second Wimbledon title against Florian Mayer. Djokovic is guaranteed to remain at No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Rankings after Wimbledon. Djokovic could face No. 13 seed Tommy Haas or No. 19 seed Gilles Simon in the fourth round, followed by a potential clash against 2010 runner-up and No. 7 seed Tomas Berdych or ninth seed Richard Gasquet in the quarter-finals. Fourth seed David Ferrer, who takes on Martin Alund, joins Djokovic in the top half of the draw.
Third seed Federer starts his bid for a record eighth crown against Victor Hanescu on Centre Court. He could potentially meet fifth seed Nadal in the quarter-finals. They came face to face in the 2006-2008 Wimbledon finals. Last year, Federer equalled the Wimbledon titles record of Pete Sampras and William Renshaw when he lifted his seventh trophy at the All England Club. He leads the FedEx ATP Reliability Index with a 121-17 (.877) record on grass courts.
Fifth seed Nadal, who captured the Wimbledon title in 2008 (d. Federer) and 2010 (d. Berdych), has been drawn to meet Steve Darcis in the first round. He could face Igor Andreev or Lukasz Kubot in the second round. Since returning from a seven-month injury lay-off in February, Nadal has won seven titles from nine finals. He arrives at SW19, where he lost to Lukas Rosol in the 2012 second round, on a 22-match winning streak. Nadal recently won his eighth Roland Garros crown.
Second seed Murray, the first British runner-up since Bunny Austin in 1938, first plays Benjamin Becker and could challenge sixth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the last eight. Tsonga plays David Goffin in the first round. Murray, who is looking to become the first British male Wimbledon champion in 77 years, beat both Becker and Tsonga last week en route to his third Aegon Championships crown.
Djokovic, Murray, Federer and Nadal are competing together at a Grand Slam championship for the first time in 12 months.
There are four stellar first-round match-ups, including former World No. 1 and 2002 champion Lleyton Hewitt versus No. 11 seed Stanislas Wawrinka, who is competing this week at the Topshelf Open in ‘s-Hertogenbosch. Marin Cilic, the No. 10 seed and runner-up at The Queen’s Club, takes on Marcos Baghdatis, while No. 14 seed Janko Tipsarevic takes on fellow Serbian Victor Troicki. The winner could potentially meet Murray in the fourth round. Simon meets Feliciano Lopezin his opener.
The last time a player seeded outside of the Top 4 won the Wimbledon title was No. 125th-ranked Goran Ivanisevic in 2001 (d. Rafter).
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