The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Roger Federer plays Mathieu first

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jun 17, 2005

Sport

Sport - Tennis

Roger Federer plays Mathieu first

P. Subramanyam

WIMBLEDON: Defending champion Roger Federer could face Lleyton Hewitt in the Wimbledon semifinals. The third-seeded Hewitt was drawn in No. 1 Federer's top half of the draw at the All England Club.

Tim Henman will face Finland's Jarkko Nieminen in the first round. Roddick takes on Jiri Vanek in his opener, while Roger Federer starts his campaign for a third successive title against France's Paul-henri Mathieu.

Nieminen, World No. 70, who meets Henman in the first round, though an unknown quantity, had defeated Andre Agassi in the first round at the French Open this year.

However, Henman's draw gets more difficult after this initial round with the Finnish tennis player. The 30-year-old could meet grass-court specialists Wayne Arthurs or Alex Popp in the third round before a possible last 16 encounter with France's Sebastien Grosjean. It may be recalled that Grosjean shattered Henman's title hopes in 2003 in the quarterfinals.

British No. 2 Greg Rusedski meets Spain's Alberto Martin and teenager Andy Murray will make his Wimbledon debut against a qualifier.

The leading contenders for the men's title have largely avoided the dangerous floaters in the initial round. However, Roddick could face Ivo Karlovic, who he beat in the Queen's final, in the second round. Fifth seed Marat Safin must get past Paradorn Srichaphan before a possible encounter with 2003 finalist Mark Philippoussis.

Lleyton Hewitt, controversially seeded behind Roddick at three, opens his challenge in the prestigious tournament against Belgium's Christophe Rochus.

After the Queens in West London couple of weeks ago, French Open champion Rafael Nadal, making his second appearance at Wimbledon, is in Roddick's side of the draw and meets American Vince Spadea in the first round.

Sharapova's campaign

Maria Sharapova will open the defence of her Wimbledon title against Spain's Nuria Llagostera Vives in the first round.

Sharapova is the second seed behind 1999 champion and World No.1 Lindsay Davenport, who faces Russian Alina Jidkova in the first round.

French Open champion Justine Henin-Hardenne, seeded seventh, will play Eleni Daniilidou of Greece. British No.1, Elena Baltacha, a wild-card entrant, takes on a qualifier in her first encounter. Venus Williams meets a qualifier, while her sister Serena faces fellow American Angela Haynes.

Cash's criticism

Meanwhile, former champion Pat Cash hit out at organisers for dropping Australian Lleyton Hewitt to number three seed.

The 2002 Wimbledon champion is second in the world rankings, but organisers handed the number two seeding to World No.4 Andy Roddick.

Speaking to the BBC Sport, Cash said, "I think it is a real slap in the face.

It's not fair that they are changing it around — the guys work all year to get rankings to win the Grand Slams."

Second seed Roddick, who lost in last year's final to Roger Federer, cannot meet the Swiss top seed until the final of this year's tournament. But, Hewitt could meet the strong favourite in the semifinals.

Disapproving the Australian's demotion, Cash added, "Lleyton Hewitt is the No. 2 player in the world and he should have stayed No. 2. He is a Wimbledon champion. Also he is the 2005 Australian Open finalist. It has certainly given Roddick a boost that I don't think he deserves over Hewitt."

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport