First Quarter: Novak Djokovic should reach round of 16 without much effort. In round of 16, he may face the 35-year-old veteran Tommy Haas who is experiencing a surge during twilight of his career. The 13th seed may take a set or two from the Djoker but hard to see an upset there. On the other hand, Berdych has some tricky opponents with a possible R3 meeting with big serving Kevin Anderson and a R4 clash with the 9th seeded Frenchman Richard Gasquet.
Projected Quarter Final : Novak Djokovic vs Richard Gasquet. Djokovic in three.
Epic alert : Lopez-Simon(R1).
Upset alert : Tomic-Querrey(R1).
2nd Quarter : Ferrer’s 1st major threat will be Dolgopolov in R3. The towering Canandian Milos Raonic is also in this quarter with a possible R4 meeting with the German Philipp Kohlschreiber. Milos has been tipped for a long time now to have a great success on grass which hasn’t materialised yet. He is due a strong showing. Del Potro will be tested in R3 against the ‘On the rise’ Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov. Dimitrov who is dating Maria Sharapova recently broke through by beating Djokovic at the Madrid masters. No. 12 seed Kei Nishikori is handed a comparatively easy draw. The Japanese looks good to reach R4.
Projected Quarter Final : David Ferrer vs Kei Nishikori. Ferrer in four.
Epic alert : Raonic-Berlocq(R1), Llodra-Nieminen(R1).
Upset alert : Dimitrov-Del Potro(R3).
3rd Quarter : This is the marquee quarter of the draw. Two legends sit on either corner of the quarter with both having decent draws till the quarter final. Another man that can catch your eye in this quarter is Lukas Rosol. Fortunately for Nadal, he is nowhere in Rosol’s route. Rafa will have little trouble till R3 where he may face the young Frenchman Benoit Paire. The 25th seed reached Rome Masters SF(l.Federer) last month and he has the potential to cause a few problems to Rafa. Marathon man John Isner is Rafa’s projected R4 opponent. But I doubt the no. 18 seed will reach till there. Federer’s route till R4 is smooth where he is due a clash against Spanish Nicolas Almagro or a surprise in no. 24 seed Jerzy Janowicz. The match which can steal the limelight is R1 clash between Lleyton Hewitt and Stanislas Wawrinka. Hewitt is coming off a strong semi-final showing at AEGON while ‘StanTheMan’ has almost a hand on trophy at the Topshelf open underway currently in the Netherlands.
Proejcted Quarter Final : Rafael Nadal vs Roger Federer. Nadal in 4.
Epic alert : Hewiit-Wawrinka(R1), Fognini-Melzer(R1), Almagro-Janowicz(R3).
Upset alert : Isner-Andujar(R2).
4th Quarter : This is the part of the draw where home fans will have a keen eye on. The home favorite Scot faces first major threat not before R3 in the no. 32 seed Tommy Robredo. The Spanish veteran who came back from two sets to down thrice in a row last month at Roland Garros may cause a few problems. Murray’s possible R4 opponent is Mikhail Youzhny who has been good on grass always. Meanwhile, Tsonga has some really tricky opponents in early stages. He opens his bid with a clash against the young Belgian David Goffin. In R2, he is due to face the big hitting Ernests Gulbis. The Latvian knocked out Tomas Berdych last year here in the R1. Even if Tsonga passes these two tests, there lies Julien Benneteau in R3 and Marin Cilic in R4. The Croatian no. 10 seed was the runner up at Queen’s last week(l.Murray).
Projected Quarter Final : Jo-Wilfried Tsonga vs Andy Murray. Murray in five.
Epic alert : Tsonga-Gulbis(R2), Verdasco-Benneteau(R2), Robredo-Mahut(R2).
Upset alert : Tipsarevic-Troicki(R1).
Semi-Finals :
Novak Djokovic vs David Ferrer. Djokovic in three.
Rafael Nadal vs Andy Murray. Murray in four.
Finals :
Novak Djokovic vs Andy Murray.
Winner : Djokovic in four.
One line that can sum up the draw : This is Djokovic’s Grand Slam to lose.
