Wimbledon Draws

Tennis balls embossed with the Wimbledon logo are seen during the match between Spain's Rafael Nadal and Australia's Lleyton Hewitt at the Tennis Classic at Hurlingham tournament in west London June 18, 2009.
Reuters

Rafael Nadal ESP (1) Juan Martín Del Potro ARG (5) v Arnaud Clement FRA
Lleyton Hewitt AUS v Robby Ginepri USA
Rajeev Ram USA v Philipp Petzschner GER
Mischa Zverev GER v Dmitry Tursunov RUS (25)

Radek Stepanek CZE (23) v Alejandro Falla COL
Potito Starace ITA v Jose Acasuso ARG
Fabio Fognini ITA v Denis Istomin UZB
Kevin Kim USA v David Ferrer ESP (16)

Nikolay Davydenko RUS (12) v Daniel Evans GBR
Victor Crivoi ROU v Bjorn Phau GER
Frederico Gil POR v Paul-Henri Mathieu FRA
Alex Bogdanovic GBR v Tomas Berdych CZE (20)

Jurgen Melzer AUT (26) v Wayne Odesnik USA
Benjamin Becker GER v Roko Karanusic CRO
Grigor Dimitrov BUL v Igor Kunitsyn RUS
Jeremy Chardy FRA v Andy Roddick USA (6)

This is an interesting quarter. If Rafa doesn't play, which we should know today, I would imagine Raja would get his spot and once again, Andy would be in Raja's quarter at a Slam. As it is, Rafa would have to be on point out of the gate because Lleyton Hewitt will provide much more resistance on grass than he did on clay a few weeks ago. As it is, he just beat him in straight sets in the Hurlington exo. Other than Davydenko, all the seeds in this quarter enjoy the grass and while I wouldn't go so far as to say they can all beat one other on this surface, whoever emerges from this quarter is anybody's guess. I'll go with the defending champion just because.

Very interesting. With Rafa's withdrawal, will Andy Roddick take advantage to get back to his first Wimbledon semifinal since 2005? How is is ankle feeling? Will Radek Stepanek, who loves grass, serve and volley his way to the quarter? Will del Potro advance as far as I pegged him before he moved to the top spot? Wildcard: Paul-Henri Mathieu?

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Andy Murray GBR (3) v Robert Kendrick USA
Riccardo Ghedin ITA v Ernests Gulbis LAT
Taylor Dent USA v Daniel Gimeno-Traver ESP
Brian Dabul ARG v Viktor Troicki SRB (30)

Stanislas Wawrinka SUI (19) v Eduardo Schwank ARG
Pablo Andujar ESP v Martin Vassallo Arguello ARG
Christophe Rochus BEL v Pablo Cuevas URU
Jesse Levine USA v Marat Safin RUS (14)

Fernando Gonzalez CHI (10) v Teimuraz Gabashvili RUS
Oscar Hernandez ESP v Leonardo Mayer ARG
Juan Carlos Ferrero ESP v Mikhail Youzhny RUS
Fabrice Santoro FRA v James Blake USA (17) Nicolas Kiefer GER (33)

Victor Hanescu ROU (31) v Ivan Navarro ESP
Nicolas Devilder FRA v Nicolas Lapentti ECU
Nicolas Kiefer GER Thiago Alves BRA v Andrei Pavel ROU
Bobby Reynolds USA v Gilles Simon FRA (8)

This quarter is chock full of headcases and the British Hope. If a particular headcase shows the desire to win big that he showed in Paris, I'll go out on a limb and predict he takes this quarter. Wildcard: Taylor Dent (just because it's grass)

Russian player Marat Safin picks himself off the ground during play against French player Josselin Ouanna  during their French Open tennis second round match on May 27, 2009 at Roland Garros stadium in Paris. Ouanna won 7/6,7/6,4/6,3/6,7/6,10/8. TOPSHOTS/AFP PHOTO / PATRICK KOVARIK.
Getty

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Juan Martin Del Potro ARG (5) James Blake USA (17) v Andreas Seppi ITA
Adrian Mannarino FRA v Marc Gicquel FRA
Paul Capdeville CHI v Vincent Spadea USA
Evgeny Korolev RUS v Igor Andreev RUS (29)

Tommy Haas GER (24) v Alexander Peya AUT
Michael Llodra FRA v Joshua Goodall GBR
Sam Querrey USA v Ivan Ljubicic CRO
Alberto Martin ESP v Marin Cilic CRO (11)

Tommy Robredo ESP (15) v Luka Gregorc SLO
Edouard Roger-Vasselin FRA v Stefan Koubek AUT
Dudi Sela ISR v Santiago Gonzalez MEX
Xavier Malisse BEL v Rainer Schuettler GER (18)

Mardy Fish USA (28) v Sergio Roitman ARG
Jan Hernych CZE v Janko Tipsarevic SRB
Simon Greul GER v Michael Yani USA
Julien Benneteau FRA v Novak Djokovic SRB (4)

Like the first quarter, most of the seeds in this quarter enjoy the grass, though the top seed tends to slip and slide and fall down a bit too much for my liking. He could face Haas in a rematch of the Halle semifinal, but there are a few players standing in their path to the quarters. Fish, Malisse, Schuettler, Cilic, Llodra, Tipsarevic, Seppi can all turn into monsters on the grass. Del Potro certainly has the game and his run to the Roland Garros semifinals suggests that his stamina has improved. I'm giving him the nod. With del Potro moving to Rafa's spot in the main draw, I'll now give Haas the nod, provided the old man hasn't played too much tennis recently. Wildcard: Sam Querrey

Tommy Haas of Germany serves against compatriot Philipp Kohlschreiber at the Halle Open tennis tournament in the western German town of Halle June 13, 2009.
Reuters

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Fernando Verdasco ESP (7) v James Ward GBR
Nicolas Mahut FRA v Kristof Vliegen BEL
Diego Junqueira ARG v Guillermo Canas ARG
Grega Zemlja SLO v Albert Montanes ESP (32)

Ivo Karlovic CRO (22) v Lukas Lacko SVK
Steve Darcis BEL v Frank Dancevic CAN
Simone Bolelli ITA v Daniel Koellerer AUT
Andrey Golubev KAZ v Jo-Wilfried Tsonga FRA (9)

Robin Soderling SWE (13) v Gilles Muller LUX
Marcel Granollers ESP v Andreas Beck GER
Nicolas Almagro ESP v Juan Monaco ARG
Marcos Baghdatis CYP Karol Beck (SVK) (LL) v Feliciano Lopez ESP (21)

Philipp Kohlschreiber GER (27) v Florent Serra FRA
Ivo Minar CZE v Maximo Gonzalez ARG
Guillermo Garcia-Lopez ESP v Agustin Calleri ARG
Yen-Hsun Lu TPE v Roger Federer SUI (2)

If Raja stays put, he'll win this quarter unless a German a Spaniard or a Frenchman step up to the plate and finish the job started by a few Argentines and a German in Paris. I don't see Soderling being a giant killer this go around. He'll likely be satisfied with getting another tennis lesson from the man he admires, provided he doesn't lose his opening round encounter with the unpredictable but always dangerous on fast courts mojo killer. Wildcard: Gilles Muller

Roger Federer of Switzerland serves to Juan Martin Del Potro of Argentina during their semi-final match at the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros in Paris June 5, 2009.
Reuters

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Dinara Safina RUS (1) v Lourdes Dominguez Lino ESP
Nicole Vaidisova CZE v Rossana De Los Rios PAR
Elena Baltacha GBR v Alona Bondarenko UKR
Kirsten Flipkens BEL v Agnes Szavay HUN (30)

Amelie Mauresmo FRA (17)
v Melinda Czink HUN
Katarina Srebotnik SLO v Aiko Nakamura JPN
Vania King USA v Mariya Koryttseva UKR
Nuria Llagostera Vives ESP v Flavia Pennetta ITA (15)

Caroline Wozniacki DEN (9)
v Kimiko Date Krumm JPN
Petra Kvitova CZE v Maria Kirilenko RUS
Alberta Brianti ITA v Tathiana Garbin ITA
Marta Domachowska POL v Anabel Medina Garrigues ESP (20)

Anna Chakvetadze RUS (32)
v Sabine Lisicki GER
Patricia Mayr AUT v Anne Keothavong GBR
Pauline Parmentier FRA v Akgul Amanmuradova UZB
Akiko Morigami JPN v Svetlana Kuznetsova RUS (5)

What I would give to see Amélie make another deep run in London, but she seems mentally fried of late. Sveta may still be too high in Roland Garros heaven to get her feet firmly situated on the lawns, so who knows if she'll even get past her first opponent who likes grass as well. Pennetta is always a threat on this surface, provided she's not still injured. I'm not yet sold on anything about Wozniacki, even if she manages to rally from a set down in the semifinals to win the Eastbourne title. And the No. 1 seed will probably be asking herself why she's such a chicken if she manages to fall behind to anybody in her section. Too many headcases, too many question marks. You tell me who takes this quarter.

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Venus Williams USA (3) v Stefanie Voegele SUI
Anastasija Sevastova LAT v Kateryna Bondarenko UKR
Ekaterina Makarova RUS v Barbora Zahlavova Strycova CZE
Carla Suarez Navarro ESP v Kaia Kanepi EST (25)

Samantha Stosur AUS (18)
v Bethanie Mattek-Sands USA
Jelena Dokic AUS v Tatjana Malek GER
Sara Errani ITA v Stephanie Dubois CAN
Lucie Hradecka CZE v Ana Ivanovic SRB (13)

Agnieszka Radwanska POL (11)
v Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez ESP
Alexa Glatch USA v Shuai Peng CHN
Olga Govortsova BLR v Tatiana Perebiynis UKR
Galina Voskoboeva KAZ v Na Li CHN (19)

Sybille Bammer AUT (29)
v Melanie Oudin USA
Monica Niculescu ROU v Yaroslava Shvedova KAZ
Katie O'Brien GBR v Iveta Benesova CZE
Julia Goerges GER v Jelena Jankovic SRB (6)

It's Wimbledon and so it's all about Venus until some other woman says it's not. I don't see one in this quarter. Wildcards need not apply.

US Venus Williams serves a ball to Hungary's Agnes Szavay  in their French Open tennis third round match on May 29, 2009 at Roland Garros stadium in Paris. The event, the second Grand Slam tournament of 2009, runs from May 24 to June 7, 2009. Szavay won 6/0,6/4.
Getty

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Vera Zvonareva RUS (7) v Georgie Stoop GBR
Melanie South GBR v Mathilde Johansson FRA
Jill Craybas USA v Tsvetana Pironkova BUL
Tamira Paszek AUT v Virginie Razzano FRA (26)

Aleksandra Wozniak CAN (23)
v Francesca Schiavone ITA
Michelle Larcher De Brito POR v Klara Zakopalova CZE
Timea Bacsinszky SUI v Vesna Manasieva RUS
Yung-Jan Chan TPEv Marion Bartoli FRA (12)

Dominika Cibulkova SVK (14)
v Julie Coin FRA
Masa Zec Peskiric SLO v Urszula Radwanska POL
Yanina Wickmayer BEL v Elena Vesnina RUS
Vera Dushevina RUS v Alize Cornet FRA (22)

Alisa Kleybanova RUS (27)
v Sesil Karatantcheva KAZ
Karolina Sprem CRO v Regina Kulikova RUS
Aravane Rezai FRA v Ayumi Morita JPN
Alla Kudryavtseva RUS v Elena Dementieva RUS (4)

Soft, soft, soft. The top seeds couldn't have picked their own foes any better, and the bottom seeds couldn't have asked for better top seeds. I have no clue who will take this quarter. But one question mark is more than enough, so I'll take the easy way out and go with the top seed. Wildcard: Francesca Schiavone

(Update): I missed Bartoli in this section. I'm getting old. She's injured, so nothing I previously wrote changes.

Russia's Elena Dementieva serves the ball to Australia's Samantha Stosur during their third round match of the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris, Saturday May 30, 2009.
AP

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Victoria Azarenka BLR (8) v Severine Bremond Beltrame FRA
Nathalie Dechy FRA v Ioana Raluca Olaru ROU
Anna-Lena Groenefeld GER v Sania Mirza IND
Edina Gallovits ROU v Sorana Cirstea ROU (28)

Maria Sharapova RUS (24)
v Viktoriya Kutuzova UKR
Gisela Dulko ARG v Stephanie Foretz FRA
Maria Elena Camerin ITA v Shahar Peer ISR
Anastasiya Yakimova BLR v Nadia Petrova RUS (10)

Jie Zheng CHN (16)
v Kristina Barrois GER
Daniela Hantuchova SVK v Laura Robson GBR
Tamarine Tanasugarn THA v Arantxa Parra Santonja ESP
Ai Sugiyama JPN v Patty Schnyder SUI (21)

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova RUS (31)
v Petra Cetkovska CZE
Roberta Vinci ITA v Magdalena Rybarikova SVK
Lucie Safarova CZE v Jarmila Groth AUS
Neuza Silva POR v Serena Williams USA (2)

Serena is the favorite, but she could face a fierce player with no regard for her stature in the second round. If Serena is interested in exacting revenge for her sister, though, it won't matter. I can't wait to see how Cirstea's current game holds up on grass. She probably has the best shot to derail Maria's Wimbledon return, though I believe the Siberian Siren will shriek her way to the quarters. Wildcard: Anna-Lena Groenefeld

US player Serena Williams serves to Czech player Klara Zakopalova during their French Open tennis first round match on May 26, 2009 at Roland Garros stadium in Paris. The event, the second Grand Slam tournament of 2009, runs from May 24 to June 7, 2009.
Getty

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