Familiar foes and former champions Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal landed in the same quarter of the bracket when the Wimbledon draw ceremony was held on Friday morning. Andy Murray is a potential semifinal opponent for Federer and Nadal, while Novak Djokovic emerged seemingly unscathed on the other side.
The Wimbledon bracket was revealed on Friday morning and it did no favors for seven-time champion Roger Federer. Just about everyone was at the mercy of the draw with Rafael Nadal looming large as the No. 5 seed, and it was Federer who came up with the short end of the stick.
Federer and Nadal, who have faced each other in three finals at the All-England Club, could go head-to-head as early as the quarterfinals. They are in a section of the 128-man field that also includes Stanislas Wawrinka, who has a tough first-round matchup on his hands against 2002 champion Lleyton Hewitt. Nadal may have to get past Wawrinka and Benoit Paire (in reverse order) prior to the last eight, while Federer’s path likely includes Jerzy Janowicz in the fourth round.
Andy Murray, still in search of his first Wimbledon triumph after finishing runner-up to Federer in 2012, also fell victim to the carnage in the bottom half of the draw. The second-seeded Scot could run into Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the quarters before going up against either Federer or Nadal. Murray at least has a favorable road through the first four rounds, while Tsonga is on a collision course with Ernests Gulbis for the second round.
In the top half of the draw, Novak Djokovic and David Ferrer cannot complain. Djokovic’s toughest test before the final could come against Tommy Haas in the fourth round. The world No. 1’s nearest top eight seed and potential quarterfinal adversary is Tomas Berdych. Still, Djokovic managed to avoid Nadal and Federer–thus clearing his path to what would be a second Wimbledon title match (he captured the trophy in 2011). Berdych’s road to the quarters could feature Kevin Anderson and Richard Gasquet.
Ferrer, meanwhile, has by far the best draw of the top four seeds. The French Open runner-up landed in the same section as Juan Martin Del Potro, who has played sparingly of late and has never been at his best on grass even though he won bronze at last summer’s London Olympics. The second quarter of the bracket also presents huge opportunities for Milos Raonic, Philipp Kohlschreiber, and Grigor Dimitrov.. The winner of a possible Raonic-Kohlschreiber collision in the third round would have a realistic chance of advancing to the semifinals. Dimitrov will try to take advantage of an eighth of the draw where Del Potro and Kei Nishikori are the highest-seeded players.
In addition to Wawrinka vs. Hewitt, other first-rounders to watch are Gilles Simon vs. Feliciano Lopez, Sam Querrey vs. Bernard Tomic, Fernando Verdasco vs. Xavier Malisse, and an all-Serb affair between Janko Tipsarevic and Viktor Troicki.
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Such a tough break for Fed. Can’t the old man at least get a break in the draw? I guess not. Don’t count our Berdych and Gulbis. They could both cause trouble, and I’n not so positive that rafa even makes it to the quarters!