Wimbledon: Andy Murray To Face Qualifiers In First Round

Andy Murray will begin his Wimbledon title defense against the qualifier and world number 134 Alexander Bublik in the first round at the All England Club on Monday. 

RELATED: 
Serena Williams Hits Back at McEnroe's Tennis Circuit Claims

The world number one who is bidding to win Wimbledon for a third time, was drawn in the same half as two-time champion Rafael Nadal. Three-times winner Novak Djokovic and seven-times champion Roger Federer placed in the bottom half.

Murray could face German Dustin Brown in the second round and Italian Fabio Fognini in round three. Australian Nick Kyrgios would be his potential fourth-round opponent.

If the seedings go to plan, Murray will play Stan Wawrinka in the quarter-finals before taking on Nadal, the champion in 2008 and 2010.

Federer will begin his bid to become the oldest winner in the open era with a match against world number 84 Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine. 

To win his his record eighth Wimbledon title, Federer would have to beat Grigor Dimitrov, Alexander Zverev and Milos Raonic, before a likely semi-final against Djokovic.

French Open champion Nadal, who has not gone past the fourth round at Wimbledon since 2011, plays John Millman of Australia in round one and is seeded to face Marin Cilic in the fourth round.

Djokovic plays world number 44 Martin Klizan in round one before a potential match-up with Argentina's Juan Martin del Potro in round three.

With the defending women's champion Serena Williams taking time out to give birth to her first child, current women's world number one Angelique Kerber will open her match on Tuesday against a qualifier.

The German is seeded to face  Czech Karolina Pliskova, the runner-up at last year’s U.S. Open, in the semi-finals.

The other women’s semi-final could be a repeat of the French Open final between Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia and Romania's Simona Halep.