Novak Djokovic to open Wimbledon defence against Juan Carlos Ferrero

WIMBLEDON, England // Novak Djokovic , the world No 1, will begin the defence of his Wimbledon title on Monday against Juan Carlos Ferrero, the former No 1 and 2003 French Open champion. Djokovic and Ferrero last played five years ago and have split two match-ups. The draw on Friday also seeded Djokovic to meet the 2010 finalist Tomas Berdych in the quarter-finals then possibly six-time champion Roger Federer . That would be their sixth semi-final in the last eight Grand Slams. Djokovic leads them 4-1. Federer opens against Albert Ramos of Spain. The second-seeded Rafael Nadal and fourth-seeded Andy Murray are in the bottom half of the draw. Nadal, the two-time champion, will meet Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil first, and Murray plays the former world No 3 Nikolay Davydenko. On the women's side, Maria Sharapova , who is top seed for the first time, has a first-round match with Anastasia Rodionova of Australia, and the defending champ Petra Kvitova plays Akgul Amanmuradova of Uzbekistan. Sharapova and Kvitova could meet in the final for a second straight year. Also in separate halves of the draw were the sisters Venus and Serena Williams , who share nine Wimbledon titles and met each other in four finals. Serena (No 6) is seeded to meet Kvitova (No 4) in the quarter-finals. Serena beat Kvitova in the semi-finals in 2010 en route to her fourth Wimbledon title and 13th, and last, major championship. Venus, unseeded for the first time since her tournament debut in 1997 and struggling with an auto-immune disease, plays Elena Vesnina of Russia, then could run into No 3 Agnieszka Radwanska in the second round. Kim Clijsters , unseeded and counting down to her retirement in September, was drawn against another former world No 1, Jelena Jankovic, in the first round. Clijsters has been sidelined for most of the year with injuries and withdrew from the Unicef Open semi-finals in Holland on Friday with a strained stomach muscle. Lleyton Hewitt, the champion 10 years ago who was entered on a wild card, will start against No 5 seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. THE FACTS Surface Grass Site All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club Schedule Play begins Monday. The women's singles final is July 7; the men's singles final is July 8 Defending men's champion Novak Djokovic Defending women's champion Petra Kvitova Prize money Total purse is US$25 million (Dh91.8m), with $1.8 million each to the men's and women's singles champions THE DRAW June 25-July 8 q-qualifier; wc-wild card; ll-lucky loser Men Novak Djokovic (1), Serbia, vs. Juan Carlos Ferrero, Spain Ryan Harrison, United States, vs. Yen-hsun Lu, Taiwan Benjamin Becker, Germany, vs. James Blake, United States Sergiy Stakhovsky, Ukraine, vs. Radek Stepanek (28), Czech Republic Marcel Granollers (24), Spain, vs. Viktor Troicki, Serbia Martin Klizan, Slovakia, vs. Juan Ignacio Chela, Argentina Jeremy Chardy, France, vs. Filippo Volandri, Italy Leonardo Mayer, Argentina, vs. Juan Monaco (15), Argentina Nicolas Almagro (12), Spain, vs. Olivier Rochus, Belgium q-Guillaume Rufin, France, vs. Steve Darcis, Belgium Carlos Berlocq, Argentina, vs. q-Ruben Bemelmans, Belgium Tobias Kamke, Germany, vs. Richard Gasquet (18), France Florian Mayer (31), Germany, vs. Dmitry Tursunov, Russia Philipp Petzschner, Germany, vs. Blaz Kavcic, Slovenia q-Simone Bolelli, Italy, vs. q-Jerzy Janowicz, Poland Ernests Gulbis, Latvia, vs. Tomas Berdych (6), Czech Republic Roger Federer (3), Switzerland, vs. Albert Ramos, Spain Fabio Fognini, Italy, vs. Michael Llodra, France q-Adrian Menendez-Maceiras, Spain, vs. q-Michael Russell, United States Gilles Muller, Luxembourg, vs. Julien Benneteau (29), France Fernando Verdasco (17), Spain, vs. q-Jimmy Wang, Taiwan wc-Grega Zemlja, Slovenia, vs. wc-Josh Goodall, Britain Xavier Malisse, Belgium, vs. Marinko Matosevic, Australia Paul-Henri Mathieu, France, vs. Gilles Simon (13), France John Isner (11), United States, vs. Alejandro Falla, Colombia Paolo Lorenzi, Italy, vs. Nicolas Mahut, France Igor Andreev, Russia, vs. wc-Oliver Golding, Britain- Denis Istomin, Uzbekistan, vs. Andreas Seppi (23), Italy Mikhail Youzhny (26), Russia, vs. Donald Young, United States q-Inigo Cervantes, Spain, vs. Flavio Cipolla, Italy q-Ryan Sweeting, United States, vs. Potito Starace, Italy David Nalbandian, Argentina, vs. Janko Tipsarevic (8), Serbia David Ferrer (7), Spain, vs. q-Dustin Brown, Germany q-Kenny de Schepper, France, vs. Matthias Bachinger, Germany ll-Wayne Odesnik, United States, vs. Bjorn Phau, Germany wc-Jamie Baker, Britain, vs. Andy Roddick (30), United States Kei Nishikori (19), Japan, vs. Mikhail Kukushkin, Kazakhstan q-Andrey Kuznetsov, Russia, vs. q-Florent Serra, France Go Soeda, Japan, vs. Igor Kunitsyn, Russia Robin Haase, Netherlands, vs. Juan Martin del Potro (9), Argentina Marin Cilic (16), Croatia, vs. Cedrik-Marcel Stebe, Germany Tatsuma Ito, Japan, vs. Lukasz Kubot, Poland Vasek Pospisil, Canada, vs. Sam Querrey, United States Santiago Giraldo, Colombia, vs. Milos Raonic (21), Canada Kevin Anderson (32), South Africa, vs. Grigor Dimitrov, Bulgaria Albert Montanes, Spain, vs. Marcos Baghdatis, Cyprus Ivo Karlovic, Croatia, vs. Dudi Sela, Israel Nikolay Davydenko, Russia, vs. Andy Murray (4), Britain Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (5), France, vs. wc-Lleyton Hewitt, Australia Edouard Roger-Vasselin, France, vs. Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, Spain Lukas Lacko, Slovakia, vs. Adrian Ungur, Romania Jurgen Melzer, Austria, vs. Stanislas Wawrinka (25), Switzerland Bernard Tomic (20), Australia, vs. wc-David Goffin, Belgium q-Jesse Levine, United States, vs. Karol Beck, Slovakia wc-James Ward, Britain, vs. Pablo Andujar, Spain Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo, Spain, vs. Mardy Fish (10), United States Feliciano Lopez (14), Spain, vs. Jarkko Nieminen, Finland q-Brian Baker, United States, vs. Rui Machado, Portugal Matthew Ebden, Australia, vs. Benoit Paire, France Alex Bogomolov Jr., Russia, vs. Alexandr Dolgopolov (22), Ukraine Philipp Kohlschreiber (27), Germany, vs. wc-Tommy Haas, Germany q-Jurgen Zopp, Estonia, vs. Malek Jaziri, Tunisia Lukas Rosol, Czech Republic, vs. Ivan Dodig, Croatia Thomaz Bellucci, Brazil, vs. Rafael Nadal (2), Spain Women Maria Sharapova (1), Russia, vs. Anastasia Rodionova, Australia q-Vesna Dolonc, Serbia, vs. Tsvetana Pironkova, Bulgaria Hsieh Su-wei, Taiwan, vs. wc-Virginie Razzano, France Stephanie Foretz Gacon, France, vs. Monica Niculescu (29), Romania Petra Cetkovska (23), Czech Republic, vs. Vania King, United States Sloane Stephens, United States, vs. q-Karolina Pliskova, Czech Republic Bojana Jovanovski, Serbia, vs. Eleni Daniilidou, Greece Petra Martic, Croatia, vs. Sabine Lisicki (15), Germany Vera Zvonareva (12), Russia, vs. Mona Barthel, Germany Edina Gallovits-Hall, Romania, vs. Silvia Soler-Espinosa, Spain Chang Kai-chen, Taiwan, vs. Andrea Hlavackova, Czech Republic Kim Clijsters, Belgium, vs. Jelena Jankovic (18), Serbia Christina McHale (28), United States, vs. wc-Johanna Konta, Britain Lesia Tsurenko, Ukraine, vs. Mathilde Johansson, France Ekaterina Makarova, Russia, vs. Alberta Brianti, Italy Lucie Hradecka, Czech Republic, vs. Angelique Kerber (8), Germany Agnieszka Radwanska (3), Poland, vs. Magdalena Rybarikova, Slovakia Venus Williams, United States, vs. Elena Vesnina, Russia Iveta Benesova, Czech Republic, vs. Heather Watson, Britain Jamie Lee Hampton, United States, vs. Daniela Hantuchova (27), Slovakia Nadia Petrova (20), Russia, vs. q-Maria Elena Camerin, Italy Timea Babos, Hungary, vs. wc-Melanie Oudin, United States Tamarine Tanasugarn, Thailand, vs. Anna Tatishvili, Georgia q-Camila Giorgi, Italy, vs. Flavia Pennetta (16), Italy Li Na (11), China, vs. Ksenia Pervak, Kazakhstan Sorana Cirstea, Romania, vs. Pauline Parmentier, France wc-Naomi Broady, Britain, vs. Lourdes Dominguez Lino, Spain Alexandra Cadantu, Romania, vs. Maria Kirilenko (17), Russia Peng Shuai (30), China, vs. q-Sandra Zaniewska, Poland Jarmila Gajdosova, Australia, vs. Ayumi Morita, Japan Arantxa Rus, Netherlands, vs. ll-Misaki Doi, Japan Carla Suarez Navarro, Spain, vs. Sam Stosur (5), Australia Serena Williams (6), United States, vs. Barbora Zahlavova Strycova, Czech Republic Johanna Larsson, Sweden, vs. q-Melinda Czink, Hungary Vera Dushevina, Russia, vs. Aleksandra Wozniak, Canada Stephanie Dubois, Canada, vs. Zheng Jie (25), China Lucie Safarova (19), Czech Republic, vs. Kiki Bertens, Netherlands Chanelle Scheepers, South Africa, vs. wc-Yaroslava Shvedova, Kazakhstan Laura Pous-Tio, Spain, vs. Anne Keothavong, Britain q-CoCo Vandeweghe, United States, vs. Sara Errani (10), Italy Dominika Cibulkova (13), Slovakia, vs. Klara Zakopalova, Czech Republic Olga Govortsova, Belarus, vs. q-Annika Beck, Germany Polona Hercog, Slovenia, vs. q-Kristyna Pliskova, Czech Republic wc-Laura Robson, Britain, vs. Francesca Schiavone (24), Italy Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (31), Russia, vs. Sofia Arvidsson, Sweden Patricia Mayr-Achleitner, Austria, vs. Varvara Lepchenko, United States Elena Baltacha, Britain, vs. Karin Knapp, Italy Akgul Amanmuradova, Uzbekistan, vs. Petra Kvitova (4), Czech Republic Caroline Wozniacki (7), Denmark, vs. Tamira Paszek, Austria Alize Cornet, France, vs. Nina Bratchikova, Russia Greta Arn, Hungary, vs. Galina Voskoboeva, Kazakhstan---- Yanina Wickmayer, Belgium, vs. Svetlana Kuznetsova (32), Russia Roberta Vinci (21), Italy, vs. wc-Ashleigh Barty, Australia Urszula Radwanska, Poland, vs. Marina Erakovic, New Zealand q-Mirjana Lucic, Croatia, vs. Alexandra Panova, Russia Casey Dellacqua, Australia, vs. Marion Bartoli (9), France Ana Ivanovic (14), Serbia, vs. Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, Spain Kimiko Date-Krumm, Japan, vs. Kateryna Bondarenko, Ukraine Anastasiya Yakimova, Belarus, vs. Mandy Minella, Luxembourg Shahar Peer, Israel, vs. Julia Goerges (22), Germany Anabel Medina Garrigues (26), Spain, vs. Simona Halep, Romania q-Jana Cepelova, Slovakia, vs. q-Kristina Mladenovic, France Irina-Camelia Begu, Romania, vs. Romina Oprandi, Switzerland Irina Falconi, United States, vs. Victoria Azarenka (2), Belarus Follow us

Novak Djokovic to open Wimbledon defence against Juan Carlos Ferrero

On the women's side, Petra Kvitova will start with Akgul Amanmuradova.