THE first disc pulled from the bag yesterday was always going to provoke a titter, though when No 43 was called it had ceased to be a laughing matter. Alex Bogdanovic was provided with the opportunity he had dreamt of since his parents brought him to England from Belgrade at the age of 9 — playing the champion on the opening day of Wimbledon 2004 is a treasure beyond measure.
It is likely, given that Roger Federer has not lost a match on grass since Mario Ancic, of Croatia, beat him in the first round of the championships two years ago, that it will be over rather speedily. “I may not know his face, but I have to prepare as well as I can against a player who I don’t know,” the champion said yesterday. “This is going to be a very special moment for me, one I have waited a year for.”
It will, certainly, be a match that draws beads of sweat upon the brows of those in the LTA who decided in March that Bogdanovic was not pulling his weight and withdrew support and funding from him. All such decisions come with a proviso, and though beating the world No 1 on Monday afternoon may not guarantee a return to the fold, one might assume that it will be cause for re-evaluation.
The premise of Bogdanovic’s departure — although it did not prevent the All England Club from conferring wild-card status upon him by virtue of his world ranking being inside No 300 at the time (it has slipped to No 307 this week) — has not changed. What better chance and setting could he have to prove a few people wrong? It is what those in charge at the LTA want to see, anyway.
This is the same Bogdanovic, 20, a naturally gifted left-hander, who was given his Davis Cup debut by Roger Taylor, the former captain, against Australia in Sydney last year. He led Lleyton Hewitt 4-2, 30-0 in the opening set and won four more games. There were those who felt that he had been blooded too soon, that it went to his head and contributed to his subsequent slippage of focus and fighting spirit.
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He is not the only British wild card to meet a grand-slam champion in the opening round — Mark Hilton, from Cheshire, faces Albert Costa, the 2002 French Open champion from Spain — but Bogdanovic will have the most famous tennis court in the world upon which to stake a further claim to be one of those who might one day assume Tim Henman’s mantle.
For his part, despite the controversy over his seeding, Henman’s draw will do little to dampen the optimism generated by his improvement from last year, which found an unlikely outlet at Roland Garros. The Great Britain No 1 enters the championships as a French Open semi-finalist and the names surrounding him in the first week are hardly a cause for insomnia.
In the opening round Henman meets Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo, the world No 83, a 26-year-old from Alicante who will be making his Wimbledon debut. Flavio Saretta, from Brazil, or a qualifier offer his probable second-round opposition and the first seeded player in his section is Hicham Arazi, of Morocco, the last on the list at No 32. Farther down the list he is scheduled to play Mark Philippoussis, of Australia, last year’s runner-up, in the fourth round and David Nalbandian, the 2002 runner-up, in the quarter-finals.
Wistful romantics look that far ahead; realists tend to worry that, by the law of averages, Henman is due a Wimbledon comeuppance. A cursory look down the field, however, and it is hard to remember a championship with fewer players with a natural grass-court game. In that, there is cause for one to join the romantics.
In what is going to be the prelude to his retirement from the sport, Goran Ivanisevic, the 2001 champion, has been handed a tough first-round assignment against Mikhail Youzhny, the No 31 seed, from Russia. His match, though, is almost certain to be played on Centre Court in the Monday twilight. It will be an occasion to savour.
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The prospect of a third successive final featuring the Williams sisters is all too real. Venus and Serena happily indulged a group of youngsters from the Wimbledon Junior Tennis Initiative on Court No 14 yesterday after the launch of their book, How To Play Tennis. Richard, their father, was prowling the grounds, happily drawing on his cheroot and embracing all and sundry. Later the sisters were seen part dancing, part leaping, down St Mary’s Walk as if they did not have a care in the world after a draw that pitted Serena against Jie Zheng, the diminutive but improving Chinese No 1, and Venus against Marie-Gayanay Mikaelian, of Switzerland.
2004 WIMBLEDON SINGLES DRAWS
MEN
(1) R Federer (Switz) v A Bogdanovic (GB)
Qualifier v Qualifier
A Martín (Sp) v F Santoro (Fr)
T Johansson (Swe) v (29) N Kiefer (Ger)
(18) F López (Sp) v R Bloomfield (GB)
C Saulnier (Fr) v M Llodra (Fr)
G Elseneer (Bel) v A Parmar (GB)
I Karlovic (Cro) v (13) P Srichaphan (Thai)
(9) C Moyà (Sp) v Qualifier
A Corretja (Sp) v R Stepanek (Cz)
S Sargsian (Arm) v M López (Sp)
D Tursunov (Russ) v (19) M Safin (Russ)
(31) M Youzhny (Russ) v G Ivanisevic (Cro)
Qualifier v F Volandri (It)
I Labadze (Geo) v K Vliegen (Bel)
J Melzer (Austria) v (7) L Hewitt (Aus)
(3) G Coria (Arg) v W Moodie (SA)
F Mayer (Ger) v W Arthurs (Aus)
K Kucera (Slovakia) v O Hernandez (Sp)
W Ferreira (SA) v (28) I Ljubicic (Cro)
(17) J Bjorkman (Swe) v R Sluiter (Neth)
J Vacek (Cz) v Yen-Hsun Lu (Taiwan)
A Clément (Fr) v J Johansson (Swe)
Qualifier v (14) M Fish (US)
(10) S Grosjean (Fr) v T Ascione (Fr)
O Rochus (Bel) v G Carraz (Fr)
Qualifier v Qualifier
J-M Gambill (US) v (23) M Mirnyi (Bela)
(27) R Ginepri (US) v Qualifier
F Verdasco (Sp) v Qualifier
S Koubek (Austria) v J Acasuso (Arg)
J Boutter (Fr) v (6) J C Ferrero (Sp)
(5) T Henman (GB) v R R Hidalgo (Sp)
F Saretta (Br) v Qualifier
D Ferrer (Sp) v V Hanescu (Rom)
Qualifier v (32) H Arazi (Mor),
(24) F González (Chile) v M V Arguello (It)
I Andreev (Russ) v J van Lottum (Neth)
M Verkerk (Holl) v N Davydenko (Russ)
Qualifier v (11) M Philippoussis (Aus)
(16) J Novak (Cz) v X Malisse (Bel)
A Dupuis (Fr) v T Haas (Ger)
K Beck (Slovakia) v J Marray (GB)
J Blake (US) v (20) T Robredo (Sp)
(25) D Hrbaty (Slovakia) v D Sánchez (Sp)
M Hilton (GB) v A Costa (Sp)
Qualifier v T Berdych (Cz)
M Ancic (Cro) v (4) D Nalbandian (Arg)
(8) R Schüttler (Ger) v R Soderling (Swe)
G Rusedski (GB) v Qualifier
F Mantilla (Sp) v K Pless (Den)
T Reid (Aus) v (30) V Spadea (US)
(21) J I Chela (Arg) v L Burgsmüller (Ger)
T Enqvist (Swe) v G Blanco (Sp)
T Martin (US) v G Cañas (Arg)
L Childs (GB) v (12) S Schalken (Neth)
(15) N Massu (Chile) v A Popp (Ger)
B Ulihrach (Cz) v A Montanes (Sp)
K Carlsen (Den) v Qualifier
Qualifier v (22) A Pavel (Rom)
(26) T Dent (US) v Qualifier
L Horna (Peru) v D van Scheppingen (Neth)
Qualifier v J Salzenstein (US)
Qualifier v (2) A Roddick (US)
WOMEN
(1) S Williams (US) v Jie Zheng (China)
Qualifier v S Cohen-Aloro (Fr)
L Lee-Waters (US) v J O’Donoghue (GB)
M Serna (Sp) v (30) E Daniilidou (Gr)
(18) F Schiavone (It) v M Casanova (Switz)
T Golovin (Fr) v A Jidkova (Russ)
E Gagliardi (Switz) v T Snyder (US)
A Morigami (Japan) v (15) P Schnyder (Switz)
(10) N Petrova (Russ) v F Pennetta (It)
M Sucha (Slovakia) v M Vento-Kabchi (Ven)
T Perebiynis (Ukr) v Qualifier
M Sequera (Ven) v (22) C Martínez (Sp)
(25) N Dechy (Fr) v A M Garrigues (Sp)
M Sánchez Lorenzo (Sp) v K O’Brien (GB)
M Marrero (Sp) v E Baltacha (GB)
C Schaul (Lux) v (7) J Capriati (US)
(4) A Mauresmo (Fr) v J Kostanic (Cro)
J Vakulenko (Ukr) v Qualifier
B Schett (Austria) v L Cervanova (Slovakia)
S Asagoe (Japan) v (26) L Raymond (US)
(24) M Pierce (Fr) v V Ruano Pascual (Sp)
L Krasnoroutskaya (Russ) v H Nagyova (Slovakia)
B Strycova (Cz) v S Talaja (Cro)
Shuai Peng (China) v (14) S Farina Elia (It)
(9) P Suárez (Arg) v S Perry (US)
A Harkleroad (US) v E Callens (Bel)
Qualifier v T Garbin (It)
A Kremer (Lux) v (19) F Zuluaga (Col)
(29) D Safina (Russ) v A Parra (Sp)
R Grande (It) v M Santangelo (It)
G Leon García (Sp) v E Likhovtseva (Russ)
Qualifier v (8) S Kuznetsova (Russ)
(5) L Davenport (US) v D Randriantefy (Mad)
K Brandi (P Rico) v I Benesova (Cz)
Qualifier v Qualifier
Qualifier v (28) E Loit (Fr)
(23) J Dokic (Serbia & M) v G Dulko (Arg)
C Castano (Col) v M Navratilova (US)
S Obata (Japan) v Qualifier
S Stosur (Aus) v (12) V Zvonareva (Russ)
(16) A Pistolesi (Isr) v K Srebotnik (Slovenia)
M Weingartner (Ger) v D Chladkova (Cz)
J Craybas (US) v C Black (Zim)
V Douchevina (Russ) v (21) M Maleeva (Bul)
(32) M Shaughnessy (US) v M Irvin (US)
P Mandula (Hun) v Qualifier
K Sprem (Cro) v L Granville (US)
M-G Mikaelian (Switz) v (3) V Williams (US)
(6) E Dementieva (Russ) v S Kleinova (Cz)
A-L Grönefeld (Ger) v T Tanasugarn (Thai)
T Pisnik (Slovenia) v T Ashley (US)
M Czink (Hun) v (27) A Molik (Aus)
(17) C Rubin (US) v M Bartoli (Fr)
M E Camerin (It) v A Barna (Ger)
J Jankovic (Serbia & M) v K Koukalova (Cz)
A Janes (GB) v (11) A Sugiyama (Japan)
(13) M Sharapova (Russ) v Qualifier
A Keothavong (GB) v N Pratt (Aus)
D Hantuchova (Slovakia) v S Reeves (US)
Qualifier v (20) E Bovina (Russ)
(31) A Frazier (US) v M Kirilenko (Russ)
E Webley-Smith (GB) v S Beltrame (Fr)
M Jugic-Salkic (Bosnia-H) v A Kapros (Hun)
L Kurhajcova (Slovakia) v (2) A Myskina (Russ)