Swiss players size up Wimbledon opponents

Roger Federer at Roland Garros: the Swiss player is limbering up for a tough first match at Wimbledon Keystone

Switzerland's tennis players are sizing up their opponents for Wimbledon, as they prepare for Britain's grand slam tournament, which starts next Monday.

Roger Federer is likely to face the toughest first-round match of Switzerland’s men’s players, having been paired against the fifth seed, Russia’s Yevgeny Kafelnikov.

Federer has only met Kafelnikov once before – he was defeated by the Russian at the Rotterdam indoor tournament last year.

His compatriots, Marc Rosset and George Bastl, have drawn less intimidating opponents for their first round matches at Wimbledon.

Rosset is up against Franco Squillari of Argentina. The two haven’t played each other before but Rosset won’t be taking anything for granted, after Squillari reached the semi-finals at the recent Paris Open.

Bastl has been paired against Sweden’s Sjeng Schalken.

Bastl’s had a bad week so far, having been knocked out of the ATP tour event in Nottingham on Monday. His defeat was made worse by the fact that his opponent was an unknown British qualifier, Barry Cowan. He fell in straight sets, 6-3, 6-7, 4-6.

Lorenzo Manta also had a bad day at the Rosmalen tournament in the Netherlands, losing his first round match to France’s Jerome Golmard.

swissinfo with agencies