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The Wimbledon Draw

June 18, 2002

Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras and Tim Henman have emerged big winners from the Wimbledon draw. But top seed Lleyton Hewitt and Andy Roddick have not fared so well.

Sampras, looking for an eighth Wimbledon title and his first tournament victory in two years, copped a huge break when fifth seeded Tommy Haas withdrew from the tournament to remain with his ailing parents in Florida, who were injured in a motorcycle accident.

Had Haas not withdrawn, Sampras would have been seeded seventh, and been seeded to play world No.1 Lleyton Hewitt in the quarterfinals. Instead, as the sixth seed, Sampras appears to have an easy path to the quarterfinals, where he is seeded to meet second seed Marat Safin, who is far less accomplished on grass than Hewitt.

Sampras plays Great Britain's Martin Lee in the first round and would face only clay-court specialists (or British wild card James Auckland) before the fourth round, where he would most likely play either Jan-Michael Gambill, Max Mirnyi or 12th seed Jiri Novak.

Agassi plays Israeli Harel Levy, who last year reached the Nottingham final on grass, in the first round. Agassi would be expected to win through to the fourth round where he would likely play either 14th seed Thomas Enqvist or big-serving Australian Mark Philippoussis. From there, it's a possible clash with Roddick, Greg Rusedski or Yevgeny Kafelnikov in the quarters, with the winner likely to play either Sampras or Safin in the semifinals.

Roddick, who fell to eventual champion Goran Ivanisevic in third round on his Wimbledon debut last year, could face another lethal left-handed serve - that of Rusedski - in the same round this year. The winner of that match would play three-time Halle champion and fifth seed Kafelnikov, who has not been beyond the third round in the past four years. Roddick plays Czech Bohdan Ulihrach, who has lost in the first round the past three years, in the first round.

Top seed Lleyton Hewitt faces a dangerous opening match against accomplished serve/volleyer Jonas Bjorkman. Although Hewitt holds a 4-0 record against the Swede, three meetings have been very tight, and they have never met on grass.

Hewitt will also be displeased to see a potential fourth-round match-up with 16th seeded Frenchman Nicolas Escude. Escude bounced Hewitt in the same round at Wimbledon last year, and also defeated the Australian on grass in the Davis Cup final in Melbourne. Hewitt will be hoping Escude's mid-season slump continues and that the Frenchman does not make it that far. Coming into this week's tournament in 's-Hertogenbosch, Escude has lost seven of his past eight matches; his only win coming against Pete Sampras on clay.

Hewitt is seeded to meet fellow young gun, Roger Federer, in the quarterfinals. Federer, who snapped Sampras' 31-match winning streak at Wimbledon last year, plays a qualifier in the first round and appears to face little danger in the early rounds.

Fourth seed Tim Henman, who again will shoulder the heavy expectations of British fans looking for the first home- grown champion since Fred Perry (who won three consecutive titles between 1934-36) has drawn exceptionally well. He is drawn to meet qualifiers in both the first and second rounds before possibly facing his first real test against Wayne Ferreira in the third round.

Henman is seeded to meet Younes El Aynaoui in the fourth round. The Moroccan has won three titles this year but is yet to reach the Wimbledon fourth round in five attempts. Henman is then seeded to meet Australian Open champion Thomas Johansson in the quarterfinals. The Swede won Halle and Nottingham on grass last year but has never reached the Wimbledon quarterfinals in six appearances. Henman has reached the semifinals three of the past four years and the quarterfinals or better five of the past six years.

Nine players who would have been seeded are missing from the Wimbledon draw: 2001 finalists Goran Ivanisevic and Pat Rafter, Tommy Haas, Sebastien Grosjean, new Roland Garros champion and newly-wed Albert Costa, Gustavo Kuerten, Carlos Moya, Marcelo Rios and Alex Corretja.

 

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