LONDON, June 20: World number one and top seed Roger Federer opens the defence of his Wimbledon title here on Monday determined to play down expectations that he has the game and grace to emulate legendary seven-time winner Pete Sampras.
Ever since Federer finally converted raw potential into historic silverware at the All England Club last year, comparisons have been made with the American who serve-and-volleyed his way to 14 Grand Slam titles before calling it quits last year.
Federer opens his Wimbledon campaign against British wildcard Alex Bogdanovic, the world 307, and is hoping to avoid the calamity suffered by last year's defending champion Lleyton Hewitt who slumped to an embarrassing first round defeat at the hands of Croatia's Ivo Karlovic, who was ranked 203 at the time.
He is seeded to face US Open winner Andy Roddick in the final with the American 21-year-old fresh from a successful defence of his Queen's Club where he fired down more world record setting service howitzers.
Roddick was beaten in the semifinals by Federer last year but was in awesome form at Queen's where he set a new record for the world's fastest serve timed at 246.2 kph.
Britain's Tim Henman, four times a semifinalist and seeded five this year, could be the biggest threat to a Federer-Roddick showdown on July 4 as he tries to become the first home men's winner since Fred Perry in 1936.
With Andre Agassi, the 1992 winner, not playing because of a hip injury, the crowd's sympathy vote will be with Goran Ivanisevic who won in 2001 but has been unable to return since because of a series of injuries.
Meanwhile, if anyone knows a Wimbledon winner when she sees one it's nine-time former winner Martina Navratilova.And the all-time great says that this year, Amelie Mauresmo will become the first Frenchwoman to hold aloft the famous silver platter since the legendary Suzanne Lenglen in 1925.
"The question marks over the health of so many top players makes this year's women's singles more open than it has been for years," Navratilova said recently. The big threat to Mauresmo will of course come from the Williams sisters who have dominated Wimbledon between them since 2000 with two wins for Venus and two for Serena.
With the absences through injury of Belgian pair Justine Henin-Hardenne, the title-holder, and Kim Clijsters, the list of likely winners is smaller than in previous years. -AFP