Wimbledon win would put Federer at No. 1
LONDON, June 22 (UPI) -- Roger Federer has a chance to regain the world No. 1 ranking with a record-tying seventh title at Wimbledon, where the draws were announced Friday.
The 2012 Wimbledon Championships begin Monday and conclude July 8 with the men's singles final.
Federer has six Wimbledon championships, one fewer than William Renshaw, who won seven times in the 1880s, and Pete Sampras, who won his from 1993-2000. Federer also has 285 weeks as the No. 1 player in the world, one week short of Sampras' record.
Federer can tie both of those records by winning at Wimbledon this year. Current world No. 1 Novak Djokovic can shut Federer out of that hope by advancing to a fifth consecutive Grand Slam final.
The men's singles pairings again place Djokovic and Federer in the same half of the draw, so Federer is in control of his own route to the top of the rankings.
Djokovic won at Wimbledon last year and opens his title defense against Juan Carlos Ferrero. Djokovic's quarterfinal opponent, if the tournament goes to form, would be sixth-seeded Tomas Berdych. Federer's highest seeded possible opponent in the quarters would be No. 8 Janko Tipsarevic. Albert Ramos is the first-round opponent for Federer.
World No. 2 Rafael Nadal, who defeated Djokovic in the French Open final earlier this month, tops of the other half of the draw. Nadal's first-round opponent will be Thomas Bellucci with fifth-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga a possible quarterfinals match.
Andy Murray, the No. 4 seed, has a tough route to get to a potential semifinal versus Nadal. Murray, from Scotland, is Britain's best hope for a homegrown champion. He opens play against Nikolay Davydenko and also could see world No. 6 David Ferrer before Nadal.
Tough path for Kvitova repeat at Wimbledon
LONDON, June 22 (UPI) -- Petra Kvitova drew a difficult path to repeat as Wimbledon women's single champion, Friday's announcement of the tournament draw indicates.
The Czech player stopped Maria Sharapova 6-3, 6-4 last year in the finals at Wimbledon for her first Grand Slam title and is seeded No. 4 this year.
Kvitova reached the semifinals this year at the Australian and French opens.
She'll start her 2012 Wimbledon run against Akgul Amanmuradova. Her potential route to the finals includes matches against sixth-seeded Serena Williams in the quarterfinals and world No. 2 Victoria Azarenka, who won the Australian Open, in the semifinals.
Azarenka's highest seeded possible opponent in the quarterfinals is No. 7 Caroline Wozniacki.
World No. 1 Sharapova, coming off a French Open title that completed her career Grand Slam, could see eighth-seeded Angelique Kerber in the quarterfinals. She drew Anastasia Rodionova in the first round.
Sharapova is looking to become the first woman to win consecutive Grand Slam titles since Kim Clijsters won the 2010 U.S. Open and 2011 Australian Open.
The lower section of that half of the draw is highlighted by third-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska and No. 5 Samantha Stosur, who could square off in the quarterfinals.
Syrian Olympic chief banned from Games
LONDON, June 22 (UPI) -- The British government has denied the head of the Syrian Olympic Committee a visa to visit London for the Summer Games.
Officials with the Home Office, Foreign Office and Department of Culture decided in recent days to deny a visa for Gen. Mowaffak Joumaa, the BBC reported Friday.
British officials said the decision was based on Joumaa's connections to President Bashar Assad's regime, which has been cracking down on pro-democracy activists since the start of an uprising in March 2011.
The officials said they decided to consider banning members of the Syrian administration from the Games after 100 unarmed men, women and children were massacred in the town of Houla in May. The Syrian government has denied involvement, blaming terrorist groups for the killings.
The International Olympic Committee is expected to review the British plans.
"At this stage we have not yet received any official approach on this issue and it would be premature to comment on any individual cases," the spokesman said.
Miami Heat celebrated victory at nightclub
MIAMI BEACH, Fla., June 22 (UPI) -- Miami star LeBron James sang rap songs during a celebration after the Heat defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder for the NBA title, partygoers said.
James and Dwyane Wade led a group of teammates to the celebration early Friday at the Liv nightclub in the Fountainebleau Hotel in Miami Beach, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported.
The players were accompanied by team owner Micky Arison.
Partygoers reported James took to the stage to rap to Jay-Z and Kanye West's "Ball So Hard," "All I Do is Win" by Miami's DJ Khaled and Queen's "We Are the Champions."
The Heat beat the Thunder 121-106 in Game 5 of the championship series Thursday night.
