London, June 11 :

Returning legend Andre Agassi has been handed an unlucky first-round clash with Tim

Henman as the 680,250-euro Queen’s club tournament kick-starts the summer grass-court season on Monday.

Agassi, who skipped the whole clay court campaign to preserve his aging back, could not have asked for a more testing challenge as he plays for the first time in three months.

British fans at the west London club, the prime tuneup for Wimbledon starting June 26, will likely watch with a tinge of sadness that one of their two favourites must leave the tournament so early.

Both former British number one Henman and the iconic Agassi, a world crowd favourite, are hugely popular on these shores. The 36-year-old American, whose every event could well be his last, has been hitting on the grass this week after working in Las Vegas with German fitness trainer Alex Stober. Agassi, seeded 12th with a ranking of 23rd, last played the tournament in 2004, losing in his opening match to Russian Igor Andreev.

Clay king Rafael Nadal is also scheduled to step onto grassa a few days after his second French Open final. The Spanish world number two has made a commitment towards learning the new surface and will spend a month finding his feet.

With the top eight seeds getting byes, the 20-year-old will await a winner from wildcards Jamie Baker of Britain and American Mardy Fish.