Preview: Wimbledon

City: Wimbledon, Great Britain
Surface: Outdoor Grass
Championship Points: 2000
2008 Singles Champion: Rafael Nadal
2008 Doubles Champions: Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic

Rafael Nadal will unfortunately not defend his title this year. This occurrence moves all the odds onto Roger Federer. It will be interesting to see if someone can stand in his way. If he wins this title, he will beat Pete Sampras’s record of 14 grand slams and regain the number one ranking.

Federer could see Fernando Verdasco in the quarterfinals. The Spaniard should not really be an obstacle since he has yet to live up to the hype of having some of Agassi’s former people behind him. Another obstacle for Federer could be Robin Soderling, who turned it on for the French Open but fizzled in the final against the Swissman. The question will be whether Soderling has enough gumption to exact revenge in a possible round-of-16 rematch.

James Blake and Novak Djokovic anchor the top quarter of Federer's half of the draw. Djokovic actually has a good quarter to advance into the semifinals against Federer. Let’s hope the Serb is focused, rested and confident. He should have no real pressure on him and will be under the radar this year with all of the focus being on Federer and Murray. Last year he had a lot of pressure on him because he was close to upsetting Nadal for the No. 2 spot, and Marat Safin consequentially bounced him out of the tournament in the second round. We shall see if he makes a run this year and challenges Federer in a possible semifinal showdown.

Andy Murray is Federer’s main obstacle and is on the other side of the draw. The two could meet in the final. Should this happen, it will be different for Federer because the crowd will definitely be behind Murray. Murray is trying to be the first Brit to win the trophy in 73 years since Fred Perry did it in 1936.

Murray’s main obstacle could be Stanislas Wawrinka in the round of 16 – luckily for Federer, he is not in his quarter. Simon anchors the other part of Murray’s quarter, but I doubt the Frenchman will give him any trouble due to his lackluster season. Let’s hope he proves me wrong.

The most interesting quarter is the top quarter, which is anchored by Juan Martin del Potro and Andy Roddick. We shall see if the old guard, Roddick or the new guard, del Potro gets to possibly meet Murray, but these two are the most vulnerable to being upset. Lleyton Hewitt, Nicolay Davydenko, Tomas Berdych and newcomer Grigor Dimitrov could shake up this part of the draw.

Tournament Draw
Singles / Doubles

And The Qualifiers Are . . .
Rajeev Ram (USA), Simon Greul (GER), Xavier Malisse (BEL), Roko Karanusic (CRO), Lukas Lacko (SVK), Alexander Peya (AUT), Alejandro Falla (COL), Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA), Grega Zemlja (SLO), Santiago Gonzalez (MEX), Taylor Dent (USA), Riccardo Ghedin (ITA), Adrian Mannarino (FRA), Luka Gregorc (SLO), Michael Yani (USA), Jesse Levine (USA)

Tournament Malfeasance
Mischa Zverev vs. Dmitry Tursunov
Jeremy Chardy vs. Andy Roddick
Juan Carlos Ferrero vs. Mikhail Youzhny
Evgeny Korlolev vs. Igor Andreev
Nicolas Almagro vs. Juan Monaco

Watch Live
NBC/ESPN – Check Your Local Listings
ESPN 360

(Image: Getty Images)