IT could have been worse for Andy Murray.

It could also have been considerably better. The 26-year-old world No.2 from Dunblane avoided the doomsday scenario in the most intriguing Wimbledon gentleman's singles draw for years when Rafael Nadal, seeded fifth, brought his unique form of anarchy to Roger Federer's quarter of the draw.

Barring any early round surprises, those two leviathans of the last decade or so are likely to battle it out for the right to take on the Scot – assuming Murray can himself take care of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga or Marin Cilic, two players he vanquished at Queen's last week, in his own last eight match. Such a scenario would mean the US Open champion taking care of another Queen's victim in the form of Germany's Benjamin Becker in the first round, either a fellow British hopeful in the form of James Ward or Yen Hsun-Lu of Chinese Taipei in the second, then possibly Tommy Robredo before a potential last-16 tie against Janko Tipsarevic.

Little wonder then that the common consensus should be that Novak Djokovic, located in glorious isolation away from the big guns in the other portion of the draw, was the day's big winner. Thankfully for Murray and the rest of the field, that is not exactly the same as saying the world No.1 would automatically be the declared the winner in a fortnight's time.

"Djokovic will be most pleased with how the draw has come out," said Tim Henman, in Edinburgh to play in the Brodies Champions of Tennis event. "Federer and Nadal in the same quarter: that's a big talking point. But for those matches to happen, for the draw to impact on those players, Andy has to get into the semis in order to play one of them. So it does not really have much impact until deep into the second week. But fingers crossed those match-ups happen, because it would be brilliant to watch.

"If I can have two favourites for the title now I would say Murray and Djokovic. Okay, Djokovic with the way the draw has come out, it has really worked out in his favour. But Murray is a close second for me."

No-one knows more than Henman about pre-Wimbledon hysteria, but the four-time SW19 semi-finalist expects Murray to feel more at home than ever before. Not only did he win a gold medal in the last major event which took place at the All England Club, he is spending more and more time around the club away from competition. "He goes there socially; he practices on the clay there and he uses the gym," said Henman. "It is very different when you are there outside the championships. It is a tennis club and it is very quiet. Does it make much difference? Maybe a 10th of a per cent of difference, but all these things add up.

"Why wouldn't you fancy your chances if you are that good? The difference for me this year is that he is a better player on the back of last year's Wimbledon final and Olympic gold; his game has developed. He has been there and won major titles. But it doesn't give him a head start. You wouldn't imagine anything would go wrong against Becker but then you wouldn't have imagined [Lukas] Rosol beating Nadal, so Andy won't take anything for granted."

Perhaps even the Wimbledon crowd has finally fully embraced him as their own. "In some respects I find it a little bit sad that it takes him crying after his final for people to look at him and say 'wow he does care'," said Henman. "I think that was the turning point for him."

John McEnroe was another who felt the draw favoured the top seed. "It sounds like the draw is more open for Djokovic, because everyone else will have to play at least two of them, compared to just one for Djokovic," McEnroe said. "For Roger, at this point of his career, playing on grass, maybe he will be reasonably fresh by the quarters and it could be a good time to play Rafa."

McEnroe was asked to recall his first meeting with Murray, a match in a junior exhibition event called the Super Set Series in which the Scot made a Hawkeye challenge on the first point. "I remember he won one game out of seven," McEnroe said. "He won the battle but I won the war. I had heard about him and you could see what he potentially had but luckily I caught him when he was like eight years old."

Elsewhere in the draw, young Englishman Kyle Edmund was handed a huge task in taming 6ft 8in Pole Jerzy Janowicz, and the challenge is no easier for the British women. Fit-again Elena Baltacha faces Flavia Pennetta for the dubious privilege of a second-round joust with Viktoria Azarenka, while Laura Robson faces No.10 seed Maria Kirilenko of Russia. It will be tough, too, for Johanna Konta against former world No.1 Jelena Jankovic, while Heather Watson is pitted against a promising American in the form of Madison Keys, and Tara Moore faces Kaia Kanepi of Estonia.

"It's tough," admitted Henman. "Heather has a slightly better opportunity, but it's Wimbledon so there shouldn't be any easy matches."