Wimbledon 2012: Ready for the holy grail of tennis?

Come Monday, the world of Tennis turns its eye to London. The 3rd Grand Slam of the year gets underway with focus on the usual suspects. But if there's one thing tennis followers have learnt in 134 previous editions of the Championships, it's to expect the unexpected!

28 of the last 29 Grand Slam titles have been shared between Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. So, expect one of them to rule at what's called the Holy Grail of Tennis yet again.

Rafa avoided losing to Djokovic in their fourth consecutive Grand Slam final encounter by winning at Roland Garros earlier this month. Since that win he seems a lot more relaxed and is spending time with family and friends. In fact, he was even photographed swimming in Spain with his girlfriend Maria Francesca Perello. What's more!, he's joined a poker club! In his own words - "Rafa is trying to become more competitive". As if he needs to? But the two-time Wimbledon Champion still needed to prepare with the usual ritual - cooking shrimps!

With Euro 2012 on both Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic found it hard to stay away from the beautiful game. While Rafa showed off his footy skills before his 2nd round loss to Philipp Kohlschreiber in the Gerry Webber tournament in Germany. Novak Djokovic preferred to express his love for football indoors, watching the game on television and indulging in Fussball.

The third musketeer in Roger Federer hasn't won a slam since the 2010 Australian Open but will be hoping that the saying, 'the grass is greener on the other side' holds true this year. Fedex might be the only man to have a postage stamp in Switzerland, he may have just had a lane named after him at the Gerry Webber Open but he is still one title away from equaling Sampras' record seven Wimbledon wins.

In the women's draw, the focus will be on Maria Sharapova who completed her career slam this year after winning the French Open. Sharapova looked stunning at the pre-Wimbledon party and said "For me, the transition from clay to grass is always a fun one. I always love it."

It's hard to say Sharapova has the luck of the draw though. She will face stiff resistance from Kim Clijsters in the quarter-finals and Venus Williams in the semis. But the clash to watch out for would be defending champion Petra Kvitova taking on Serena Williams in the semis.

Meanwhile, India's eyes will be on how their stars recover from the ugly Olympic selection war. Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna have a point to prove. Leander Paes, no different!