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Wednesday, 4 July 2007, 18:49 GMT 19:49 UK

Federer finally returns to action

By Piers Newbery
BBC Sport at Wimbledon

Roger Federer Roger Federer should be back in action at Wimbledon on Thursday after five days of enforced inactivity.

Bad weather and an injury to last-16 opponent Tommy Haas mean the reigning men's singles champion has not played a match since Friday.

The world number one faces Juan Carlos Ferrero in the quarter-finals, while Andy Roddick takes on Richard Gasquet.

In the women's quarters, Venus Williams takes on Svetlana Kuznetsova, and Ana Ivanovic faces Nicole Vaidisova.

Federer and Ferrero are last on Centre Court following those two women's matches, with Roddick and Gasquet second on Court One.

606: DEBATE

Play on all courts begins at 1100 BST.

As Federer continues his bid for a fifth successive Wimbledon crown, one of his main rivals for the title is unsure whether the Swiss star will have benefited from his break.

Roddick, Federer's likely semi-final opponent, said: "The time off could work either way for Roger.

"It would be really weird to go five days during a Slam without playing a match"
Andy Roddick

"On the one hand you don't have to play a fourth round match and you're guaranteed a spot in the quarters, which is nice.

"But at the same time it would be really weird to go five days during a Slam without playing a match.

"There's no question he's probably not going to be as sharp coming off a five-day lay-off as he would if he'd been playing every day.

"But fortunately for him that five-day lay-off came at the best possible time. It's not like it's been sunny and we've all been getting practice in.

"We've been stuck in a locker room for nine hours a day and he's been chilling out, maybe taking the double decker bus tour of London.

"Given the choice, I'd take a living room over a locker room."

The other half of the men's draw is still at the fourth-round stage because of the rain delays.

Second seed Rafael Nadal takes on 14th seed Mikhail Youzhny in the first match on Court Two while Novak Djokovic, seeded four, faces a tough task against 2002 champion Lleyton Hewitt in the opening tie on Court One.

The other matches see Tomas Berdych up against 35-year-old Jonas Bjorkman, and sixth seed Nikolay Davydenko facing last year's semi-finalist Marcos Baghdatis.




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Related to this story:

Roddick through to quarter-finals (04 Jul 07 |  Tennis )
Injured Haas out of Federer match (01 Jul 07 |  Tennis )
Federer cruises into third round (28 Jun 07 |  Tennis )
Wimbledon order of play (24 Jun 07 |  Tennis )

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