Andy Murray, the third seed and second favourite, might have to beat a struggling Rafael Nadal in the quarter-finals then Roger Federer, the seven-times champion, for a shot at his second Wimbledon title – against the world No1, Novak Djokovic.
It is a treble that in the past was more formidable than it is now, given the ravages of injury and time. However, Murray, who at 28 is in the best pre-tournament form of his career, must start well on Tuesday against Mikhail Kukushkin, 55 places below him in the rankings and who has won just one set in six matches against him. They at least share an affinity with women coaches, Murray guided by Amélie Mauresmo, and the Kazak by his wife, Anastasia Kukushkina.
Murray said of Kukushkin: “He’s a good player. He’s had some big tournaments in the past. He played Rafa pretty close here last year. He can play well on the grass, predominantly from the baseline. He’s a good ball-striker. If you give him time to dictate the points, he’s a tough guy to beat.”
The draw fell with reasonable kindness for the Scot on Friday, more so, perhaps, than for Djokovic: the defending champion and favourite has his path to the final potentially blocked by the man who beat him in the French Open final this month, Stan Wawrinka.
Murray’s schedule could pan out like this: Kukushkin, the Dutchman Robin Haase, the in-form Italian Andreas Seppi or the boxing-mad Croatian teenager Borna Coric (who beat him Dubai this year), followed in the fourth round by perhaps Gilles Müller – if the Luxembourg veteran can work his way through the first week after a first-round match against the injured Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
Nadal, twice champion, is seeded 10th but has put behind him his quarter-final defeat by Djokovic at Roland Garros and could do better than the doom merchants predict. The 29-year-old should account for the Brazilian clay-courter Thomaz Bellucci then Taiwan’s Yen-Hsun Lu before a third-round match against either Viktor Troicki, who injured his left shoulder in the Queen’s semi-final against Murray, or Great Britain’s latest acquisition, Aljaz Bedene, who has the tour-toughened Czech Radek Stepanek in the first round.
For Federer, Wimbledon seems an endless odyssey, full of glorious possibilities, and this year is no different for the 33-year-old Swiss, who comes off another tournament win in Halle and has legitimate ambitions of making the final two years in a row.
He has drawn first-up the 23-year-old Bosnian Damir Dzumhur, whom he beat comfortably in the fourth round in the French Open. Thereafter, there could be the Americans Sam Querrey and Jack Sock before the cultured Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut, then the sixth seed, Tomas Berdych, in the quarters. It is a challenging but not daunting assignment.
The clear favourite, however, remains Djokovic – even after his spirit-sapping loss to Wawrinka in Paris. If the excellent German Philipp Kohlschreiber does not catch him cold in the first round, the Serb could face three Australians in a row – Lleyton Hewitt in his Wimbledon farewell, Bernard Tomic and Thanasi Kokkinakis – before the quarters. The seedings suggest he will meet Kei Nishikori there but the US Open finalist had to quit with a leg injury in Halle and may not get past John Isner in the fourth round.
And waiting for Djokovic in the semi-finals … could it be Wawrinka again?
The Swiss lost four tie-breaks in a row, in singles and doubles, to go out early at Queen’s but his confidence is sky-high. His most threatening antagonists in a campaign to get past the quarters here for the first time are probably going to be young Dominic Thiem, David Goffin and Grigor Dimitrov – all exciting shot-makers and thus vulnerable to the fourth seed’s muscular back-court tennis.
Among the other British men, James Ward has drawn David Ferrer first up, in-form wildcard Kyle Edmund, struck down by a stomach muscle injury in Paris, plays Aleksandr Dolgopolov, The Australian-born Brydan Klein will do well to take a set off Seppi, seeded 25, and the remaining wildcard, Liam Broady, will have a fight on his hands against the combative Australian Marinko Matosevic.
In the women’s draw, Johanna Konta has the thrill and the fear of playing Maria Sharapova in the first round on Monday – a challenge any good player would embrace. Konta, a diffident under-performer in the past ranked 146 in the world, arrives on a wave of decent hope, taking world No12 Karolina Pliskova to three sets in Birmingham before lighting up her south coast neighbourhood with the best win of her career, against the world No8, Ekaterina Makarova.
The other British women have less glamorous but similarly difficult assignments in the early rounds. British No1 Heather Watson, still searching for her best form, will have to be on song to beat Caroline Garcia, the wildcard Naomi Broady could do well against the Colombian Mariana Duque-Mariño, but the 14th seed, Andrea Petkovic, awaits her in the second round.
And Laura Robson, returning to tennis after 17 months out with a wrist then a recent hamstring injury, has a wildcard that pitches her against Evgeniya Rodina, the Russian who gave Watson a two-hour, three-set fight in Miami this year. Beyond that, there will be Jelena Jankovic and almost certainly the world No2, Petra Kvitova – so this could be a short return for the former British world No1.
