It was one of those ”could have been worse, could have been better” draws for Kevin Anderson and Izak van der Merwe, the only South Africans to earn places in the singles when the historic Wimbledon tennis championships begin in London on Monday.
Anderson, South Africa’s number one, faces Argentina’s Augestin Calleri in the first round and Izak van der Merwe, who made a storybook entry into the tournament proper with three sterling qualification wins, faces Spain’s Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.
A first-round victory for Anderson would in all likelihood earn him a second-round clash against the 28th-seeded Gilles Simon of France, while Van der Merwe’s shadow second-round opponent is the 19th-seeded Nicolas Almagro of Spain.
Although the seasoned and skilful Simon and Almagro pose no easy task for the South Africans, they can be encouraged by the fact that neither of the former is known for his prowess on grass courts.
The intriguing highlight of Friday’s draw, however, was in revealing whether dangerous third-seed and Australian Open champion Novak Dokovic would be positioned in the same half of the draw as defending Wimbledon champion Roger Federer — or in the same half as the irrepressible, in-form recent French Open winner Rafael Nadal.
The player who will, no doubt, emerge happiest among the front-runners is Nadal, with Federer earmarked to meet Dokovic in the semifinals if the draw unfolds in accordance with the seedings. — Sapa