Champion Roger Federer is on a Wimbledon collision course with the man whose title he took, Lleyton Hewitt.
Goran Ivanisevic was also drawn in the top quarter on Thursday as the winners of the last three years were all grouped together in the top 32 places in the 128-man draw.
Former world number ones Marat Safin and Carlos Moya were also drawn in the top quarter.
Following Andre Agassi's withdrawal with a hip injury earlier this week, Ivanisevic, Hewitt and Federer are the only Wimbledon champions in the men's draw.
Fifth seed Tim Henman was offered a relatively easier passage in the lower half after he was drawn in the same quarter as 2002 runner-up and fourth seed David Nalbandian.
A possible semi-final opponent for the British number one could be second seed Andy Roddick, who retained the Stella Artois title last Sunday.
In the women's event, defending champion and top seed Serena Williams will probably have to overcome her conqueror at Roland Garros, Jennifer Capriati, in the last eight again after the two were placed in the top half.
A Williams sisters final may also be on the cards for a third year running after Serena's third-seeded elder sister Venus, champion in 2000 and 2001, was drawn in the bottom half.
In a potential repeat of the French Open final, Russian compatriots Anastasia Myskina, seeded second, and Elena Dementieva, six, were drawn to meet in the quarter-finals.
WIMBLEDON DREAM
Nine-times champion Martina Navratilova, playing the singles for the first time since losing the 1994 final, faces Colombia's Catalina Castano in the first round.
Men's seventh seed Hewitt, who was knocked out in the first round by the tallest man in tennis 6ft 10in (2.08m) Ivo Karlovic last year, could meet Ivanisevic in an explosive third round.
Three-times a runner-up before finally winning as a wildcard in 2001, Ivanisevic is retiring from tennis after Wimbledon and since his first visit in 1988 has played his way into the hearts of the Wimbledon fans.
The 2001 champion is making his first visit to the All England Club since his victory three years ago, injury having prevented him from competing the last two years.
He will have to beat Hewitt if he is to fulfil his remaining Wimbledon dream.
"My goal is to pass first week. Then... who cares?" he said earlier this week.
"It's going to be fun. I have a good relationship with the crowd and they really appreciate me. Centre Court is the most magic court I ever played on in my life."
Federer faces Alex Bogdanovic, a British wildcard who had his LTA funding taken away for lack of commitment, in the first round.
The first big name Henman could face could be last year's runner-up Mark Philippoussis in the fourth round, although the Australian has not won a match since the Australian Open in January and would need a major reversal in fortune to reach that far.
Roddick, at the bottom of the draw, faces a qualifier first and could meet fellow big-serving American Taylor Dent in the third round.