[Tennis] Wimbledon 2008

[Rappy Veteran]

British number one Andy Murray will meet veteran Frenchman Fabrice Santoro in the first round at Wimbledon.

Murray, the 12th seed, is in the same half of the draw as world number two Rafael Nadal.

Top seed Roger Federer, seeking a sixth straight title, cannot meet Nadal until the final but could face world number three Novak Djokovic in the last four.

Federer begins his title defence against Dominik Hrbaty, while Nadal faces qualifier Andreas Beck.

Australian Open champion Djokovic is up against Germany's Michael Berrer.

Two-times finalist Andy Roddick, who begins his campaign against Eduardo Schwank, is a potential semi-final opponent for Nadal.

The Spaniard, fresh from winning his first grass-court title at Queen's, has a potentially difficult second-round match against either rising Latvian star Ernests Gulbis or big-serving American John Isner.

In the women's draw, Venus Williams will open the defence of her title against British wildcard Naomi Cavaday.

World number one Ana Ivanovic begins her bid to win back-to-back Grand Slams against Paraguay's Rossana de los Rios.

Former champion Maria Sharapova, who is in the same half of the draw as Venus and second seed Jelena Jankovic, meets French qualifier Stephanie Foretz.

Murray has faced 35-year-old Santoro once before, winning 6-4- 6-2 at the indoor Paris Masters last year.

The British number one said: "Fabrice is one of my favourite players in the world. I love watching him play.

"He uses both hands to play his forehands and backhands and comes up with some very unorthodox shots."

Santoro, a doubles expert, has never got beyond the third round at Wimbledon in singles but his unconventional style has caused several top players problems in the past.

In an interesting twist, Santoro will come up against Murray's older brother Jamie in the first round of the men's doubles.

Should Andy get the better of the wily Santoro, former semi-finalist Xavier Malisse could be waiting in the second round.

The Belgian has been handed a wildcard this year after struggling with injuries.

After that, Richard Gasquet is a potential fourth-round opponent with Nadal possibly waiting in the last eight.

Murray is joined by three other British players in the men's draw.

British number four Alex Bogdanovic will meet Italy's Simone Bolelli while fellow wildcard Jamie Baker is up against another Italian, Stefano Galvani.

Surrey's Chris Eaton, who caused a shock by coming through qualifying, has been rewarded with a first-round match against Serbia's Boris Pashanski.

As for the British women, 19-year-old Cavaday could hardly have been handed a more difficult draw than Williams.

At 199, she is ranked 192 places below the American, who is a four-times champion at Wimbledon.

British number one Anne Keothavong, the only Briton apart from Murray to have gained acceptance into the main draw by right, meets unseeded American Vania King.

Elsewhere in the women's draw, Serena Williams, winner in 2002 and 2003, has drawn Estonian Kaia Kanepi and could meet 2006 champion Amelie Mauresmo in the third round.

I am thinking this could be Federers last year of winning, there is certainly a new era now.

[gregb0b]

Tennis doesn't get enough credit... what a great game. Can't wait to watch this on the tv

[Rappy Veteran]

Tennis doesn't get enough credit... what a great game. Can't wait to watch this on the tv

I agree I love the sport but loathe Nadal :laugh:

[Beastage]

After last years epic final.... I predict the final to be Nadal - Djokovic with Djokovic fear of Nadal to give Nadal the title.

Anyway I think it can be a great tourney.

[MackTK]

i'm still betting on Roger. Nadal suck on grass and i doubt djokovic can beat federer on this surface

Go Roger

[Rappy Veteran]

Great game for Roger today!

[MackTK]

^ indeed it was, he was at his best. On the other hand djokovic loses a set against berrer who played terribly. lets see what nadal will do against Beck today (supposadly an easy match)

Karlovic lost!! that was quite a surprise, it seems that his serve really failed him this time

[MackTK]

wow, djokovic loses to safin in 3 straight sets in less than 2 hours. i don't think i ever saw djokovic play worse. 10 double faults!! safin played well but he was not unbeatable.

federer to start next

[Abhishek kapoor]

wimbledon 2008 ---------- ROGER

[Rappy Veteran]

wow, djokovic loses to safin in 3 straight sets in less than 2 hours. i don't think i ever saw djokovic play worse. 10 double faults!! safin played well but he was not unbeatable.

federer to start next

Yeah that was a major shock, I think tho Nadal will be in the final he's just that sort of person but I want Roger to win!

[red.]

Really good match between Ivanovic and Dechy.

:heart: Ivanovic :wub:

[Rappy Veteran]

Really good match between Ivanovic and Dechy.

:heart: Ivanovic :wub:

Yeah she was a bit lucky tho really after that net fluke :p

But she is very hot!

[Beastage]

Really good match between Ivanovic and Dechy.

:heart: Ivanovic :wub:

Yea I'd sex her , mmmm

What a laugh at Djokovic but what joy for Safin, this will surely boost the big man's momentum and confidence, in terms of pure talent Safin still has what it takes to beat anyone in tennis today.

Federer had a rather easy game against Soderling today.

[Rappy Veteran]

I am making a Ivanovic sig as I reply :p

[MackTK]

What a laugh at Djokovic but what joy for Safin, this will surely boost the big man's momentum and confidence, in terms of pure talent Safin still has what it takes to beat anyone in tennis today.

i disagree, safin's unforced errors are way too high to beat many players, and personally i think his foot work is terrible. i like the guy but he'll most probably lose his next match.

Yeah that was a major shock, I think tho Nadal will be in the final he's just that sort of person but I want Roger to win!

federer plays great till now, nadal didn't play well the last tournament on grass and he's yet to be tested in wimbledon 2008. i wouldn't really be surprised if nadal loses any of his next matches. even though he's a god on clay, his performance on grass is not that impressive. but well we'll see what nadal will do today

[Rappy Veteran]

Nadal was a bit lucky today I felt but his experience showed through.

[MackTK]

^true, Gulbis was great in the 1st set but then he had a huge drop in his performance losing the next 3 sets. but i think we'll be hearing of this kid more often in the future

[Rappy Veteran]

Bah! Rain Stops Play :(

[MackTK]

bummer, hopefully it will stop soon. I want to watch federer :(

[MackTK]

a clumsy start from federer

[Rappy Veteran]

At least he got the first set, hopefully its all good from here!

[MackTK]

3 straight sets but it really was a boring match and federer didn't play well. can't wait to see what safin will do against seppi....hmm..... i think he'll lose in a 4 set match :)

1 Roger Federer v. Lleyton Hewitt [20] RND 4

2 Rafael Nadal v. Nicolas Kiefer [27] RND 3

3 Novak Djokovic lost to Marat Safin RND 2

4 Nikolay Davydenko lost to Benjamin Becker RND 1

5 David Ferrer v. Mario Ancic RND 3

6 Andy Roddick lost to Janko Tipsarevic RND 2

7 David Nalbandian lost to Frank Dancevic RND 1

8 Richard Gasquet v. Gilles Simon [28] RND 3

9 James Blake lost to Rainer Schuettler RND 2

10 Marcos Baghdatis v. Simon Stadler RND 3

11 Tomas Berdych lost to Fernando Verdasco [22] RND 3

seeded players keep falling off in this tournament :o

[HilariousNinja]

I'm thinking that Murray has a great chance this year. With so many players in the top 20 out, surely he can get quite far in this years tournament and build on it. However, I can only see Nadal or Federer winning it, those two are unstoppable and in a completely different league.

[Rappy Veteran]

Yeah Murray gets through Haas I think he stands an awesome chance but I think he could meet Nadal in quarters.

[Rappy Veteran]

Time to edit my sig :(