The two week period between the French Open and Wimbledon is among the shortest in sports that feature major events like the Grand Slams in tennis.  The contrast of the dirt, which requires patience and topspin, and high-kicking balls, to the fast, low-bouncing surface of grass was so extreme that it was considered a rarity for a player to win both.  Both managed the feat three years in a row (1978-1980).  Since then, Rafa has accomplished it twice and Federer once.

This period is often so short that it’s tough to gauge who are the hot players heading into Wimbledon, so short is the grass court season.  Indeed, Novak Djokovic didn’t even bother to play a grass tuneup last year, but went on to win the big title.  Similarly, Nadal lost at Queen’s to Tsonga, but reached the finals once again.  Murray won Queen’s, but only reached the semis once again.  Federer also skipped the grass tuneups upsetting Halle organizers.

This year, Nadal lost early to Kohlschreiber in Halle, Federer was upset by Haas in the finals of Halle, Murray was upset early on in Queen’s by Nicolas Mahut.  Djokovic, for the second year in a row, opted not to play a tournament.

Let’s look at this year’s draw.  First, yes, for the umpteenth time in a row, Federer and Djokovic are in the same half of the draw.  This was broken up some at the Australian Open where Federer and Nadal were in the same half, but the French Open continued the trend of Federer and Djokovic in the same half.

Djokovic starts with Juan Carlos Ferrero.  Ferrero, much like Haas, seems to disappear for vast amounts of the year.  He lost quite a few first rounders at the start of the year.  Even so, he’s still in the top 40.  He reached the third round of Rome and won one round in Nice and one round at the French Open.   Ferrero isn’t even that bad on grass.  A few years ago, he had a reasonably deep run at Wimbledon.  But it would be a huge upset if Djokovic even drops a set to Ferrero.

Djokovic would face the winner of Harrison and Lu.  Lu made a deep run at Wimbledon a few years ago, but again, I think neither will pose Djokovic much trouble.  Harrison is still up-and-coming.  He has a big serve, but has yet to have a good big win.

The other seeds in Section 1 include Stepanek, Granollers, and Monaco.  Stepanek might be the most comfortable, given his aggressive game, but none should be expected to beat Djokovic.

The top seed in Section 2 is Tomas Berdych.  The seeds in his section are Mayer, Gasquet, and Almagro.  Berdych opens up with a wildcard (not a real wildcard, but a “wild” card) in Ernests Gulbis.  Gulbis has had a history of losing in the opening round, and as time passes, it seems Gulbis’s likelihood of breaking through seems more remote.  Still, Gulbis has a lot of talent, and Berdych is not always the most consistent.  Even so, I’d be surprised if Berdych doesn’t get past his first round opponent.

Out of this section, Richard Gasquet seems intriguing.  He’s played well on grass in previous years.  He hasn’t played spectacular tennis lately, but he’s talented.  Almagro’s never done too well on grass, but he’s in this section as well.  There are a few tough players, like Kamke or Petzschner.  This section of the draw seems relatively open for those willing to take advantage.

In Section 3, the top seed is Roger Federer.  He has a pretty nice draw.  The top seeds in his section are Benneteau, Verdasco, and Simon.  There are 3 wildcards and 2 qualifiers.  Michael Llodra is an interesting player, but he got crushed by Federer the last time they played.  So Fed should be good to the quarterfinals.

In Section 4, the top seed is Tipsarevic.  The other seeds are Isner, Seppi, and Youzhny.  Although Isner won’t face Mahut in the first round like he has the last two years, they could, once again, meet early.  They might meet in the second round.  Tipsarevic starts with a very tough opening round, playing Queen’s finalist, David Nalbandian.

Given Section 4, Federer doesn’t have to play a huge server like Tsonga or Berdych, so he should be good to the semifinals, barring anything weird happening.

Now to the bottom half.

In Section 5, David Ferrer is the top seed.  The other seeds are Andy Roddick, Kei Nishikori, and Juan Martin del Potro.  It’s a little too bad that Ferrer and Roddick are in the top half of Section 5 as these are two of the winners of the grass tuneups.  Still, it’s a great chance for either to reach the fourth round.  There’s no one that great in this section.  del Potro does open with Robin Haase who pushed Nadal to 5 sets back in 2010.

Section 6’s top seed is Andy Murray.  The other seeds are Cilic, who won Queen’s, and Anderson and Raonic.  Murray opens with Davydenko, a player that has been as high as number 2, and has had wins over Murray.  But Davydenko doesn’t play that well on grass, and has yet to play well since he took time off for an injury after 2010 Indian Wells in the middle of huge resurgence in his career.  At the time, Davydenko had signed with Dunlop and gotten a deal that a top player gets, but not him due to his short, balding visage.  Davydenko was never happy with Dunlop, and his ranking dropped, and it’s been around 30 for a while.

Murray could meet Karlovic in the second round, Anderson or Baghdatis in the third round, Raonic or Cilic in the fourth round.  This makes Murray’s draw a lot tougher than some of his rivals.

In Section 7, Tsonga is the top seed.  This is perhaps the most intriguing section with Mardy Fish, Stan Wawrinka, and Bernard Tomic as the seeds.  In addition, Lleyton Hewitt is a wildcard, opening against Tsonga.  David Goffin, who had a good French Open, is also in this section.

Finally, Section 8 where Nadal is top seed.  The other seeds are Lopez, Kohlschreiber, and Dolgopolov.  Nadal has some tough-ish players.  He opens with Bellucci, then could play Dodig, a guy who has beaten Nadal before, then Haas in the third round.  Brian Baker had to qualify to get into Wimbledon, so he’s in the main draw.

Baker has a decent shot to make it a few rounds, provided he can manage the grass.  Apparently, his good return game is still allowing him to play against the big boys, and he’s not scheduled to face a top ten player for quite a few rounds.

Heading into Wimbledon, Nadal and Djokovic have to be favorites with Nadal playing better tennis, but Djokovic trying to get his game back to top level.  Federer is playing good tennis as well.  Murray has a lot to prove since he played a poor warmup, and has a tougher draw than usual.  The only advantage Murray has is his knowledge of playing on grass, but so far, he hasn’t looked like he’s in good form.