Gasquet is the most talented but would have loved to have had more grass wins under his belt. His form has been patchy. Dark horses on this side of the draw are the darkest, moodiest and funniest of ‘em all, Marat Safin as well as Tommy Haas and Dimitry Tursunov. Safin won’t get there, he has just been too dark for too long now and he thinks grass are for cows. Dimitry will scare a few but not all. Tommy has been battling injury and he normally likes to play a few tourneys before hitting his strides so no real threats here.

The top quarter of the bottom half could be the toughest even without Nadal who is in the bottom quarter. Baghdatis, Hewitt and Djokovic are the obvious ones but they will contend with the likes of Karlovic, Nalbandian, Monfils and Davydenko. Nikolay, despite a poor grass record, has a favourable draw and might gain some momentum. Nalbandian is in the same boat. I fancy Djokovic and Baghdatis to meet in the quarters. The other quarter should see Rafa go through. Obstacles could come in the form of Grosjean, Soderling, Nieminen and Youzhny. I fancy he will meet Berdych from the top half who has a relative easy draw with only super veteran Jonas Bjorkman a real challenger. Tommy Robredo might fall in the first against Kendrick. Berdych should therefore get to play Rafa for a place in the semi, a guy who has never beaten him on a hard court in three attempts.

According to the seedings Henin should meet Jankovic in the semi. Looking at current form it’s quite a safe presumption but I think Henin is safer than Janko. Jelena Jankovic has played a lot of tennis recently and a week’s rest would have stood her in better stead than another grasscourt final this weekend, so her stamina will be tested. She is a quality player though and should get there, but Henin to go through to the final. Dangerous floaters in Henin’s part of the draw are Schnyder, Hantuchova and Serena Williams but Justine’s consistency and ever-improving volleying skills will pull her through. Jankovic has the likes of Peer, Bartoli, Hingis and Krajicek to overcome. None has the firepower to really trouble her though. There is also Anna Chakvetadze who beat her at the Ordina last week. Jelena will get her revenge on the Russian sooner than she thought.

If the seeds go through Sharapova should meet Mauresmo in this half of the draw. It usually never happens as predicted but again it’s hard to bet against this likelihood. In her quarter Mauresmo have Ivanovic, Petrova and Vaidisova, all of which should not trouble the champ at her best and in the other quarter it’s Sharapova up against Dementieva, Kuznetsova and Safina. All good players in their own right but Maria is fresh and has the weapons to take care of the others. All in all it’s very hard to find a possible winner outside the top 4, Henin, Mauresmo, Jankovic and Sharapova with a repeat of last year’s final between Henin and Mauresmo the most likely. As mentioned before though it usually never goes as predicted....."