Wimbledon draw 2019: Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal projected to meet in Championship semi-finals

The two former champions have been placed in the same half of the draw

Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have been projected to meet in the semi-finals of the Wimbledon Championships after both were placed in the same half of the draw.

Nadal was unhappy about being seeded below Federer in a reversal of their world rankings but ultimately it has made no difference, with both in the opposite half to top seed Novak Djokovic.

Djokovic opens his title defence against world No 57 Philipp Kohlschreiber in the first round. The two met earlier this year at the Italian Open, with the Serbian claiming a comfortable victory in straight sets.

Nadal, meanwhile, has been handed a tricky route to the final. He takes on Yuichi Sugita in the opening round before a potential second-round encounter with Australia’s Nick Kyrgios. This will be followed by possible showdowns with Denis Shapovalov and Marin Cilic in the third and fourth rounds respectively.

Federer opens against South Africa’s Lloyd Harris and is a carrot in the second round for Britain’s Jay Clarke, who takes on American qualifier Noah Rubin in round one.

Nineteen-year-old wild card Paul Jubb will make his Wimbledon debut against Portugal’s Joao Sousa while Dan Evans and James Ward will play each other if they can beat Federico Delbonis and Nikoloz Basilashvili respectively.

The final British player in the men’s singles, Cameron Norrie, will play Denis Istomin and could face eighth seed Kei Nishikori in the second round.

In the women’s, Angelique Kerber has been handed an eye-catching draw for her title defence. Assuming the reigning champion avoids any upset, she’ll face Serena Williams in the fourth round, Ashleigh Barty in the quarter-finals, Kiki Bertens in the last four and Naomi Osaka in the final.

Barty will play her first match as the top seed at a grand slam against China’s Zheng Saisai and could face former Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza in the third round.

Britain’s Harriet Dart drew American lucky loser Christina McHale while Williams will take on Italian qualifier Giulia Gatto-Monticone.

Wild card Katie Swan, who won her first match at Wimbledon last summer, opens against German Laura Siegemund.

Barty could meet Garbine Muguruza in the third round (Getty)

British No 1 Johanna Konta will face Romanian qualifier Ana Bogdan and could take on ninth seed Sloane Stephens in the third round in a rematch of their French Open quarter-final, which Konta won handsomely.

Assuming she recovers from an arm injury in time to compete, sixth seed Petra Kvitova faces a tough opening match against Eastbourne semi-finalist Ons Jabeur.

The final British entrant, Heather Watson, also takes on a qualifier in 17-year-old American Caty McNally.

There will be a 24-year age difference between teenager qualifier Cori Gauff and her 39-year-old opponent Venus Williams. Fifteen-year-old Gauff is the youngest woman to qualify for the tournament in the Open era.

Second seed Osaka opens her campaign against Kazakh Yulia Putintseva.