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Federer Attempts to Make History

June 23, 2008

World No. 1 Roger Federer (Switzerland) will attempt to make history at this year’s Wimbledon Championships as he seeks to become the first man to win six straight titles at the storied All England Club.

Despite his struggles so far this season, the Mighty Fed has to be considered the favourite as play gets underway in London. He currently holds a 59-match winning streak on grass while claiming five Wimbledon crowns and another five titles at Halle. But the road to final Sunday certainly won’t be easy for the Swiss master as five former Grand Slam champions loom in his half of the draw, most notably World No. 3 Novak Djokovic of Serbia. Djokovic has quickly become one of Federer’s most dangerous opponents, defeating him at last year’s Rogers Cup and again at the Australian Open earlier this year. The young Serb has stated he believes he can beat Federer on grass and just might get the opportunity to prove he’s right if they can both advance that far.

But before either player can prepare for that match they must first get past a number of other talented players lurking in the top half of the draw. Federer could end up facing Frenchman Gael Monfils in the third round. Monfils reached his first ever Grand Slam semifinal at the French Open and gave Federer some trouble before falling in four sets. Former Wimbledon champion Lleyton Hewitt (Australia) proves to be a possibly tough fourth round opponent, and the quarter-finals could bring either Mario Ancic (Croatia), a dangerous grass court player, or World No. 5 David Ferrer (Spain). Meanwhile, Djokovic could end up with two-time Slam champion Marat Safin (Russia) in the second round and World No. 7 David Nalbandian (Argentina) in the quarters.

Headlining the bottom half of the draw is World No. 2 Rafael Nadal (Spain). While his home country is not normally known for its grass court players, Nadal has proven in the past couple of years that he is more than capable of succeeding on the surface. He’s reached the final in each of the last two years and nearly defeated Federer one year ago in an epic final that remains one of the greatest tennis matches ever played. Two weeks ago he claimed his first grass court title at Queen’s, becoming the first Spaniard in 36 years to win on grass and setting himself up as a co-favourite to win it all this year.

Nadal’s first big test will likely come in the quarter-finals, where No. 8 seed Richard Gasquet (France), a semifinalist last year, and No. 12 Andy Murray (Scotland) both possibly await. If he’s able to get through to the semis, he could face either No. 4 Nikolay Davydenko (Russia) or No. 6 Andy Roddick (United States). Davydenko has never been past the fourth round at Wimbledon but Roddick is a two-time finalist and one of the best grass court players in the draw.

Also on Nadal’s side of the draw are No. 9 James Blake and No. 16 Radek Stepanek, who posted his best Grand Slam result at Wimbledon two years ago.