TENNIS/News round-up: Top seed Lleyton Hewitt will have to survive a barrage from the biggest servers in tennis if he is to retain his Wimbledon title which starts on Monday.

The Australian opens his defence on Monday against a qualifier. Huge-serving Taylor Dent is a possible third round match-up while American Andy Roddick, the fastest server in the game, could await him further down the track.

"A lot of grand slam draws can look tough at the start," Hewitt said yesterday. "But it depends how it pans out. You've got to just see how it all opens up."

One obstacle Hewitt will now avoid is former champion Richard Krajicek. The Dutchman was a potential second round opponent but withdrew with an elbow injury after yesterday's draw.

World number one Andre Agassi, the second men's seed, plays British wild card Jamie Delgado in the first round and has Russian powerhouse Marat Safin in his quarter of the draw.

Tenth-seeded Tim Henman faces Spanish claycourt specialist Alex Corretja in the first round and is in the same quarter as Argentina's David Nalbandian, last year's runner-up, and Dutchman Martin Verkerk, beaten finalist at the 2003 French Open.

Roland Garros champion and Wimbledon third seed Juan Carlos Ferrero is also in Henman's section of the draw.

Serena Williams, the world number one and defending champion, and her sister Venus were kept out of the same half of the women's draw and could meet in a repeat of last year's final.

Serena Williams faces fellow American Jill Craybas in the opening round while second seed Kim Clijsters of Belgium opens against Paraguay's Rossana Neffa-De Los Rios.

French Open champion Justine Henin-Hardenne, who beat Serena to reach the Paris final, opens against Ukrainian Julia Vakulenko while twice champion Venus Williams meets a qualifier.

Meanwhile, Jelena Dokic's year hit a new low yesterday after a humiliating defeat by a Japanese qualifier at Eastbourne. She crashed 6-3, 6-1 to Saori Obata in the first round in just 44 minutes.