The only man at Wimbledon with a possibly worse draw than luckless Lleyton Hewitt is big British hope Andy Murray.
At least poor old Hewitt, now 31 and ranked No.202 in the world, is unlikely to suffer long against French hit man Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, fourth-seed Murray faces a potential week-long torture test.
As if carrying the hopes of a nation trying to end Britain’s 76-year wait for a men’s grand slam singles champion isn’t burden enough, now the Scot has been pitch-forked into a wretched section of the draw.
In a real-life tennis episode of Land of the Giants, Murray will likely have to overcome four of the tallest and biggest servers in the world to make the quarter-finals.
Murray is up against Nikolay Davydenko first and is then projected to meet Ivo Karlovic, Kevin Anderson, Milos Raonic and Juan Martin del Potro, who all stand close to or taller than two metres.
Should he survive, Murray is once again likely to run into second seed Rafael Nadal in the semi-finals for the sixth time at a grand slam.
Defending champion Novak Djokovic and six-times champion Roger Federer have once again landed in the same half of a major draw.
Top-seeded Djokovic, who downed the Swiss superstar in straight sets in the French Open semi-finals earlier this month, opens against former world No.1 Juan Carlos Ferrero, while Federer faces another Spaniard, Albert Ramos.
Second seed Nadal, the 2008 and 2010 champion, meets Brazil’s Thomaz Bellucci in his first-round match.
Hewitt’s 20th-seeded countryman Bernard Tomic starts against Belgian David Goffin, who reached the French Open fourth round from qualifying and took a set off Federer before losing in four.
In the women’s draw, top seed Maria Sharapova, the 2004 champion and newly-crowned French Open winner, begins against Australia’s Russian-born Anastasia Rodionova.
Defending champion Petra Kvitova, seeded fourth, launches her campaign against Akgul Amanmuradova of Uzbekistan.
Five-times champion Venus Williams, unseeded this year, takes on Russia’s Elena Vesnina while sister Serena, a four-time winner, faces Barbora Zahlavova Strycova of the Czech Republic.
Second seeded Victoria Azarenka, the Australian Open champion, could face Kvitova in the semi-finals, but first the Belarussian takes on America’s Irina Falconi.
