Federer, Murray, Nadal in same half of Wimbledon

Roger Federer faces a tough road to another Wimbledon final after draw threw Rafa Nadal and home favorite Andy Murray into the champion's path and cleared the way for world number one Novak Djokovic.

The third seed could face Spaniard Nadal, seeded only fifth to reflect his current ranking, in what would likely be an epic quarter-final on the grass of southwest London.

Federer and Nadal, the big danger in the draw, played three finals in 2006, 2007 and 2008.

If the Swiss seven-times winner gets through the quarter-final, he faces a potential clash with last year's finalist Murray in the semi-finals.

World number one Novak Djokovic would be on course to face seventh seed Tomas Berdych in the quarter-finals but will avoid any of his three main rivals until the final.

The draw is certainly a tough one for Federer, who has recently struggled but rallied to victory in Halle, Germany, in his favorite warm-up for Wimbledon. Four of Federer's seven wins at Wimbledon came after he lifted the trophy in Halle.

Federer, Nadal and Murray will all play opening day on Monday at Wimbledon.

Federer will open the defense of his title against Victor Hanescu of Romania, while Nadal will take on Steve Darcis of Belgium and Murray plays Benjamin Becker of Germany, an opponent he beat last week at the Queen's Club.

Djokovic, who won Wimbledon two years ago, will start on Tuesday against Florian Mayer of Germany. He is guaranteed to keep the No. 1 spot in the ATP rankings after the tournament whatever the result he achieves.

There are several noteworthy first-round matchups in the draw, with former champion Lleyton Hewitt facing No. 11 Stanislas Wawrinka; No.21 Sam Querrey against Bernard Tomic; and No. 10 Marin Cilic playing Marcos Baghdatis.

Roger Federer's possible opponents:

Round 1 : Victor Hănescu

Round 2 : Sergiy Stakhovsky

Round 3 : Lukas Rosol / Jurgen Melzer / Fabio Fognini

Round 4 : Nicolás Almagro / Jerzy Janowicz / Radek Stepanek

QF : Rafael Nadal / Stanislas Wawrinka / John Isner

Semi Final : Jo-Wilfred Tsonga / Andy Murray

Final : Novak Djokovic / David Ferrer

Date: 21st June 2013, Source: Reuters