Federer seeks 5th straight Wimby title

It's Wimbledon season once again, as humorously observed by Matthew Pritchett in his cartoons for the Telegraph below, and, like any other Federer fan, I'm all excited!

World tennis number one and four-time Wimbledon men's champion Roger Federer opens his campaign for a record-tying fifth straight Wimbledon crown tomorrow, 25 June, when he opens the prestigious tennis tournament with a match against Russian Teimuraz Gabashvili. The match is scheduled to start at 1:00pm, London time.

According to the men's single draw, Federer may next meet another Russian, the 26th seed Marat Safin, in the third round. Also in Federer's quarter of the draw is Australian Open finalist, Fernando Gonzales, who if I recall correctly, gave Federer quite a challenge in the Wimbledon quarterfinals in 2005. It is also possible that Federer will face this year's Queens champion and two-time Wimbledon finalist, Andy Roddick, in the semifinals. Other potential opponents of Federer at that stage of the tournament are Queens runner-up and surprise finalist, Nicolas Mahut (the played a brave match against Federer last year, by the way); Ordina Open title-holder Ivan Ljubicic and British hope Andy Murray.

Sounds like a pretty tough draw to me. I can only hope and pray Federer does well and will be able to defend his title. I'm a little anxious since he didn't have the opportunity to warm-up at the Gerry Weber Open at Halle this time around which means he lacks some matchplay. On the other hand, grass is his favourite surface and Federer seems determined and confident about his form and about switching from clay to grass after a good rest. Why, he has even admitted that he's got his eye on Sampras' record of seven Wimbledon crowns!