LONDON: Andy Murray will begin the defence of his Wimbledon title against a qualifier after the draw was made for the third Grand Slam of the year at the All England Club on Friday.
The Scot, who is bidding to win Wimbledon for a third time, was drawn in the same half as two-time champion Rafael Nadal, with three-times winner Novak Djokovic and seven-time champion Roger Federer placed in the bottom half.
Women’s world number one Angelique Kerber also opens up against a qualifier and is seeded to face Karolina Pliskova in the semifinals.
Murray, whose preparations have been hampered by a sore hip, will open the men’s event on Monday.
The world number one could play flamboyant German Dustin Brown in the second round, with Australian Nick Kyrgios a potential fourth-round opponent.
Should the seedings go to plan, the top seed will play Stan Wawrinka in the quarterfinals before taking on Nadal, the champion in 2008 and 2010.
Federer will begin his quest for an open-era men’s record eighth title with a match against world number 84 Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine.
French Open champion Nadal plays Australia’s John Millman in round one and is seeded to face former US Open champion Marin Cilic in the fourth round.
Djokovic plays Martin Klizan of Slovakia in his first-round match and could face Argentina’s Juan Martin Del Potro, the former US Open winner and 29th seed, in the third round.
— Reuters
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