Tim Henman is on a collision course with number two seed Andy Roddick at this year's Wimbledon championships.

The British number one has been matched in the same half of the draw as his American rival and they will meet in the semi-finals should they both negotiate the preceding rounds.

Henman would first have to defeat last year's runner-up Australian Mark Philippoussis, who is seeded 11th despite his current lack of form, and then overcome 2002 runner-up David Nalbandian of Argentina in the quarter-finals a match later.

The draw has been kind to Henman whose first round opponent - the little-known Spaniard Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo - has limited grass court experience and is ranked 101 in the current ATP Champions Race.

Big-serving Roddick, a class operator on grass who retained the Stella Artois title last Sunday, will have an easier passage to the potential semi-final showdown against Henman - seeded fifth - with Rainer Schuettler proving his closest rival.

Wildcard entry Greg Rusedski could meet Roddick in the quarter-finals but would have to overcome Schuettler in the second round, a tall order for a player who has only just begun to rediscover his form.

All eyes will be on Rusedski's fellow Brit Alex Bogdanovic after he was drawn against defending champion and world number one Roger Federer in his Wimbledon opener, a player 306 places higher in the rankings.

Swiss star Federer was in imperious form at the All England Club last year and Bogdanovic, another Wildcard entry, would have to pull off one of the great upsets in Wimbledon history to progress.

If play runs according to seeding, Federer - holder of the Australian Open title - would have to face Thailand's Paradorn Srichaphan in the fourth round and Lleyton Hewitt in the quarters.

Federer supplanted Hewitt as Wimbledon champion last year and the Australian seventh seed will be desperate to avoid another humiliating first round exit.

That should fail to materialise with Jurgen Melzer of Australia looking like cannon fodder, but there could be trouble in the third round where Goran Ivanisevic - winner at the All England club in 2001 - might be lurking.

Federer, Hewitt and Ivanisevic are the only former men's singles champions in the tournament, while other British representation sees Jonathan Marray meet Henman's Queen's Club conqueror Karol Beck and Lee Childs play Holland's Sjeng Schalken.

Wimbledon has enjoyed an all-Williams final for the last two years and could see more of the same after Serena and Venus were kept apart in different halves of the draw.

But Serena - who is gunning for a hat-trick of title in SW19 - insists neither she nor her sister are looking beyond the first round.

''We're feeling good and have been home to practice in the heat. We're very excited to be in Wimbledon again and want to enjoy the occasion. All we're concentrating on is the first round,'' said the 22-year-old.

Meanwhile, Rusedski will be relegated to British number three after relinquishing his grip on the Nottingham Open title.

Rusedski produced his best tennis of the week to take the opening set against Sweden's Thomas Johansson but eventually lost 4-6 7-5 7-6 to the former Australian Open champion.

It means he will lose a significant number of world rankings points and be overtaken by Arvind Parmar when the new standings are announced on Monday, the first day of Wimbledon.

Rusedski said: ''I don't really care, If I continue to play at this standard and to play well it doesn't really matter whether you are the British number two, three, 17 or 257 to be honest.

''It's about playing good tennis and at this time that doesn't mean anything to me.

''I thought for a set and a half today I dominated the match completely, I had all the chances and break points.

''It just came down to one or two points here or there, one forehand I missed on break point and one he hit an ace on, if I take one of those I would have won 6-4 6-4.

''But that's tennis for you, I think I played better than my first two matches so that's the positive and the other positive is I get a little bit more time to prepare for Wimbledon.

''I'm just going to take a day off, I don't start at Wimbledon until Tuesday.

''I've seen the draw and the section looks quite reasonable.

''It's a good chance to do well and for the first time in a long while I'll have three or four days to prepare so it might be a blessing in disguise.''

l Henman completed his preparations for Wimbledon with a comfortable 6-3 6-4 victory over Nicolas Massu at the Boodle & Dulthorne Champions Challenge in Stoke Poges this afternoon.