LONDON, 18 June 2003 — Lleyton Hewitt will have to navigate his way through a minefield of big servers if he is to retain his Wimbledon crown.

The Australian, the top seed despite losing his world number one ranking to Andre Agassi last week, begins the defense of his title with a first round match against a qualifier. His task in getting through the second round looks to have been made easier with the withdrawal of his likely opponent Richard Krajicek, the 1996 champion, who called off on Tuesday after being beaten in the first round of the ATP tournament in the Netherlands citing an unspecified injury.

Hewitt’s quarter of the draw contains Taylor Dent, Belarussian Max Mirnyi, Thailand’s Paradorn Srichaphan and Andy Roddick, the player he is seeded to meet in the last eight. Hewitt was philosophical about a draw he admitted was one of the toughest he had been handed in a Grand Slam.

“A lot depends on how it pans out. A lot of Grand Slam draws can look tough at the beginning and then open up.”

Roddick, the fifth seed, established himself as one of the pre-tournament favorites by beating Agassi on his way to winning at the biggest pre-Wimbledon tournament at Queen’s Club on Sunday. Roddick begins his campaign against Italy’s Davide Sanguinetti, while Srichaphan, who knocked Agassi out last year and is seeded 12th, has a tough opening match against Dominik Hrbaty.

In contrast to Hewitt, the draw was relatively kind to Agassi, who begins his quest to add to his 1992 title with an opening match against British wildcard Jamie Delgado, ranked 456th in the world.

A projected quarterfinal against Xavier Malisse, a semifinalist here last year, looks like giving Agassi his first real test. Malisse will not relish the prospect of a likely second round meeting with Australia’s Mark Philippoussis.

Home favorite Tim Henman faces Spanish claycourt specialist Alex Corretja in his opening match.

In theory, the draw is relatively benign for Henman but he will be wary of the prospect of facing Dutchman Martin Verkerk in the third round. If Henman can survive to the second week he is likely to come up against France’s Sebastien Grosjean. Last year’s surprise runner-up, the Argentinian David Nalbandian kicks off against Vladimir Voltchkov and could find himself meeting experienced grasscourt specialist Wayne Ferreira in the third round. Ferreira has a tough first round clash with Karol Kucera of Slovakia.

The women’s draw threw up the possibility of another all-Williams final after Serena and Venus were drawn in different halves.

Serena begins her defense against compatriot Jill Craybas and should proceed untroubled to a quarterfinal appointment with Jennifer Capriati.

Also in the top half of the draw is Justine Henin-Hardenne, who beat Serena in an ill-tempered French Open final earlier this month. Two-time champion Venus Williams opens against a qualifier and is lined up for a quarterfinal meeting with fellow American Lindsay Davenport.

Among the first round clashes in the women’s singles is an all-Asian meeting of Thailand’s Tamarine Tanasugarn and Japan’s Akiko Morigami.