The tennis Gods are not smiling on Roger Federer in his quest for an unprecedented sixth straight Wimbledon Championship. His side of the draw is murderous while Rafael Nadal’s on the other side of the draw is a cake walk. Except for a possible semifinal matchup with two time finalist Andy Roddick. However, Roddick has been very unreliable in majors as of late and his window of opportunity is closing quickly.

Federer opens with a tough matchup against former world #12 Dominik Hrbaty and then a possible third round match against tough French Open semifinalist Gael Monfils looms. After that he could end up in the fourth round against Chilean Fernando Gonzalez or the the last man to win Wimbledon before him, Lleyton Hewitt. His projected quarterfinal matchup would be against Spaniard and world #5 David Ferrer before his sure semifinal foe, Novak Djokovic, who has been talking a lot about how Federer is vulnerable this Wimbledon fortnight. Of course if he gets through this minefield, Rafael Nadal will surely be in the final for the third straight year. Hopefully Federer can enact a little revenge for his beatdown at Roland Garros.

If Federer somehow manages to survive this brutal field and win his sixth straight All England crown he will silence a lot of critics and set himself apart from all others that have ever played on grass. He is playing for history and against his own demons. A win at the All England Club moves him within one of Pete Sampras’ record of 14 grand slams and 7 Wimbledons (non consecutive). It would also raise his grass court win streak to 66. It should be fun to watch.

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