RICKY DIMON LOOKS AT WIMBLEDON TENNIS DRAW FOR 10SBALLS AS NOVAK DJOKOVIC & ROGER FEDERER IN SAME SECTION & NICK KYRGIOS NEAR ANDY MURRAY

Written by: Staff on 24th June 2016

RICKY DIMON LOOKS AT WIMBLEDON TENNIS DRAW FOR 10SBALLS AS NOVAK DJOKOVIC & ROGER FEDERER IN SAME SECTION & NICK KYRGIOS NEAR ANDY MURRAY

epa05387830 Britain's Andy Murray in action during a training session at the All England Lawn Tennis Championships in Wimbledon, London, Friday, June 24, 2016. The Wimbledon Tennis Championships 2016 will be held in London from 27 June to 10 July. EPA/PETER KLAUNZER |

Anderson, Dolgopolov among those making final Wimbledon preparations in Nottingham

The Wimbledon draw ceremony took place on Friday morning in London and while it may not matter whom Novak Djokovic sees on the other side of the net these days, the world No. 1 cannot be too enthused about the hand he was dealt. Especially toward the business end of the fortnight, roadblocks will be frequent and substantial in Djokovic’s bid for a fourth title at the All-England Club (third in succession) and for the third leg of his quest for the calendar-year slam in 2016. Most notably, Milos Raonic is a possible quarterfinal opponent and Roger Federer is in the same half of the bracket.

On the bright side for the top-seeded Serb, he should cruise through the early rounds of the event. If he does, two representatives of the host nation will be out in no less than the first three days. Djokovic will face Great Britain’s own James Ward on Monday and could meet Kyle Edmund in the second round. The winner of a big-serving opener between Sam Querrey and Lukas Rosol will likely go up against Djokovic in the last 32.

Potential fourth-round matchups in the top section are Djokovic vs. David Ferrer (or Philipp Kohlschreiber) and Raonic vs. David Goffin.

Federer would probably have preferred to be in Andy Murray’s half as opposed to that of Djokovic, but the rest of his draw is a good one. The 17-time Grand Slam champion begins against Guido Pella and would then get either Ricardas Berankis or a qualifier. Real entertainment would likely start in round three, with Alexandr Dolgopolov looming there and then potentially either Gael Monfils or Gilles Simon. Kei Nishikori is Federer’s nearest top-eight seed, but the Japanese has never been a force on grass. If Nishikori stumbles, the 34-year-old Swiss’ possible quarterfinal opponent could be someone like Marin Cilic, Ivo Karlovic, or Gilles Muller.

Roger Federer of Switzerland hits a ball during a training session at the All England Lawn Tennis Championships in Wimbledon, London, Thursday, June 23, 2016. The Wimbledon Tennis Championships 2016 will be held in London from 27 June to 10 July. EPA/PETER KLAUNZER

Murray has a much more favorable draw than Djokovic, there is at least some danger in the way. Grass-court specialist Yen-Hsun Lu is the world No. 2’s expected second-round foe. Murray and Benoit Paire are on a collision course for the third round, while Nick Kyrgios is a scary fourth-round proposition. Kyrgios may first have to survive matchups with Radek Stepanek (first round), Dustin Brown (second round), and either Feliciano Lopez or Fabio Fognini (third round). The other side of the Murray-Kyrgios quarter is home to Richard Gasquet, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, and John Isner.

The third section is the most up for grabs. Stan Wawrinka, Dominic Thiem, and Tomas Berdych are the favorites on paper, but all three could be early outs. Wawrinka is starting against up-and-coming American Taylor Fritz, Thiem opens with Florian Mayer, and Berdych will face Ivan Dodig on Tuesday. Thiem and Mayer just squared off in Halle, where the veteran German sliced and diced his way past the previously red-hot German in straight sets. Mayer ended up capturing the title–the second of his career.

Other intriguing first-round showdowns are Jack Sock vs. Ernests Gulbis, Kohlschreiber vs. Pierre-Hugues Herbert, Monfils vs. Jeremy Chardy, Lopez vs. Rajeev Ram, and Karlovic vs. Borna Coric.

Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand.

Topics: 10sballs, Ricky Dimon, Sports, Tennis, Wimbledon

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10sBalls_com says:

June 25, 2016 at 8:03 pm

RT @10sBalls_com: -@Dimonator Looks At #Wimbledon #Tennis Draw As #Djokovic & #Federer In Same Section
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