There will be no Roger Federer, Andy Murray or Rafael Nadal standing in Novak Djokovic’s path for a third crown at the All England Club until at least the title decider at the end of the coming Fortnight.
But the man who has caused him more Grand Slam grief than any other in the past 18 months – Stan Wawrinka – stands as his potential semi-final roadblock.
For seven-time champion Roger Federer, an Andy Murray semi-final is on the cards, but he would first be expected to find a way past a pair of accomplished seeds on the grass – Czech Tomas Berdych, the 2010 finalist, in the quarter-finals and Spaniard Feliciano Lopez in the fourth round.
The Swiss world No.2 opens against Bosnian Damir Dzumhur with American Jack Sock on track for a third-round clash.
Murray, the 2013 Champion, meets Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Kukushkin first up with his first stern challenge likely coming in the fourth round against either resurgent Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga or the ever-dangerous Croatian serving machine Ivo Karlovic.
Two-time champion Rafael Nadal has a shot at a Murray quarter-final but would first have to upstage his countryman, No.7 seed David Ferrer in the fourth round. To get that far, the No.10 seed would potentially have to see off Serbian Viktor Troicki in the third round, a player he defeated only weeks ago to win the Stuttgart final on grass.
For No.1 seed Djokovic, the crafty Philipp Kohlschreiber will be his opponent on Centre Court on Monday and while the German is a known performer on grass, he has beaten the world No.1 only once, back at the 2009 French Open.
The defending champion will have to end the career of his Round 2 opponent if he is to reach a likely third-round meeting with Australian No.27 seed Bernard Tomic.
Retiring duo, 2002 Champion Lleyton Hewitt and Finland’s Jarkko Nieminen, square off in Round 1 with the winner expected to meet Djokovic next.
Big-serving South African Kevin Anderson could face the Serb in the fourth round with his expected quarter-final foe, Japan’s No.5 seed Kei Nishikori, to meet the winner of two big servers in the fourth round – either his US Open conqueror Marin Cilic or American No.17 seed John Isner.
Just Met my opponent @DjokerNole @TheBoodles - he started attacking me even before the match Starts pic.twitter.com/iH88t12Hf2
— PhilippKohlschreiber (@Kohlscribbler) June 26, 2015French Open Champion Wawrinka’s bid to pass Murray and Hewitt on the Grand Slam titles list, the Swiss No.4 seed will open against Portugal’s Joao Sousa with Belgian David Goffin a likely fourth-round hurdle.
In a rematch of last year’s quarter-final, rising Australian Nick Kyrgios would have a chance for revenge against Canadian No.7 seed Milos Raonic in the third round. With the winner tipped to meet last year’s semi-finalist Grigor Dimitrov in the fourth round for a shot at Wawrinka in the quarter-finals.
Other notable first round matches include Brit James Ward taking on Ferrer, Luxembourg’s dangerous lefty Gilles Muller facing Tsonga and Frenchman Jeremy Chardy against Berdych.
Of the four teenagers in the top 100, Croatian Borna Coric takes on Federer’s conqueror here from two years ago, Ukraine’s Sergiy Stakhovsky, with Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis in a potentially tricky opener against Argentine No.24 seed Leonardo Mayer. German Alexander Zverev has a more winnable contest against Russian Teymuraz Gabashvili as does Korean Hyeon Chung facing Frenchman Pierre-Hugues Herbert.
