Federer's Tough Draw

Rafael Nadal's absence from this year's men's draw has thrown the draw into disarray. Of the top four seeds, Novak Djokovic easily has the best draw. The highest seed in his quarter is Marin Cilic at #11; whereas in Federer’s quarter, you have Verdasco, the #7 seed, the #9 seed Tsonga, and the dangerous French Open finalist, Robin Soderling at #13. Nadal’s quarter just opened up significantly with Leyton Hewitt’s upset of Juan Martin Del Potro. At the moment, everyone’s money will be on Andy Roddick to come out of this quarter of the draw to meet Andy Murray in the semis. The highest remaining seed in Murray’s quarter is Gilles Simon, the #8 seed, and no one seriously expects him to best the Scotsman.

The question is- why does the top ranked player in the tournament, have by far the toughest draw? Fed’s section has Ivo Karlovic, the 6-10, massive serving Croat who is always a threat on grass, the dangerous Phillipp Kohlschreiber, the French Open finalist Soderling, and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, a big server that is tough to beat when he’s on.

Roger’s confidence is obviously sky high after his triumph at Roland Garros, and he is still obviously the favorite to come through this section of the draw, but any of the aforementioned players could easily push him to 4 or 5 sets, which will take a toll as he moves on to an inevitable meeting with Djokovic in the semis and Murray in the finals.