Rafael Nadal, twice a Wimbledon champion and winner of 43 out of 45 matches since returning to ATP World Tour action in February including a record eighth French Open title, has surprisingly been seeded fifth for the upcoming Championships; a place below his compatriot David Ferrer.
Regardless of beating Ferrer comprehensively in the Roland Garros final 11 days ago, Nadal dropped behind his fellow Spaniard on the rankings last week. Combined with his shock second round exit last year to Lukas Rosol and the enforced seven months absence because of knee problems, the Wimbledon formula favors Ferrer.
The upshot is Nadal could face a potential quarterfinal clash with any of the leading trio of Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray or Roger Federer. All will be revealed in tomorrow’s draw but while Nadal was not available for comment, second seeded Murray maintained: “As a player you can’t get too obsessed about the draw.
“I’d sign up to be in the quarterfinals against Rafa tomorrow if someone offered me that.”
“You could say if I get through that match, then the semi-final might not be as tough, but if you want to win the biggest tournaments you have to beat the best players in the world. It doesn’t really matter where they are in the draw.”
In days of yore almost certainly Nadal would have been seeded higher but in 2001 the All England Club abandoned their policy debating the list in committee and coming up with a list independent of the ATP World Tour rankings.
Since then, a new three-stage formula has been put in place to determine seedings for the men’s competition. This involves taking a player’s ATP Entry System Position before the tournament begins, adding 100% points earned for all grass court tournaments in the past 12 months and then adding 75% points earned for best grass court tournament in the 12 months before that.
The formula has favored several players. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, semi-finalist last year jumped one spot in the seedings to no. 6, with Tomas Berdych dropping a place to no. 7. Marin Cilic, finalist at the Queen’s Club tournament on Sunday, moves up to no. 10 from his ATP World Tour ranking of 12.
American player John Isner jumped from 21 to 18 and 28th ranked Mikhail Youzhny is promoted to 20th place in the Wimbledon seedings. However the Ladies singles seeding list as ever adheres exactly to the WTA rankings, but world no.27 Svetlana Kuznetsova, a former US Open and French Open champion, has been forced to withdraw because of damaged abdominal muscles.
GENTLEMEN’S SINGLES
DJOKOVIC, Novak (SRB) [1]
MURRAY, Andy (GBR) [2]
FEDERER, Roger (SUI) [3]
FERRER, David (ESP) [4]
NADAL, Rafael (ESP) [5]
TSONGA, Jo-Wilfried (FRA) [6]
BERDYCH, Tomas (CZE) [7]
DEL POTRO, Juan Martin (ARG) [8]
GASQUET, Richard (FRA) [9]
CILIC, Marin (CRO) [10]
WAWRINKA, Stanislas (SUI) [11]
NISHIKORI, Kei (JPN) [12]
HAAS, Tommy (GER) [13]
TIPSAREVIC, Janko (SRB) [14]
ALMAGRO, Nicolas (ESP) [15]
KOHLSCHREIBER, Philipp (GER) [16]
RAONIC, Milos (CAN) [17]
ISNER, John (USA) [18]
SIMON, Gilles (FRA) [19]
YOUZHNY, Mikhail (RUS) [20]
QUERREY, Sam (USA) [21]
MONACO, Juan (ARG) [22]
SEPPI, Andreas (ITA) [23]
JANOWICZ, Jerzy (POL) [24]
PAIRE, Benoit (FRA) [25]
DOLGOPOLOV, Alexandr (UKR) [26]
ANDERSON, Kevin (RSA) [27]
CHARDY, Jeremy (FRA) [28]
DIMITROV, Grigor (BUL) [29]
FOGNINI, Fabio (ITA) [30]
BENNETEAU, Julien (FRA) [31]
ROBREDO, Tommy (ESP) [32]
LADIES’ SINGLES
WILLIAMS, Serena (USA) [1]
AZARENKA, Victoria (BLR) [2]
SHARAPOVA, Maria (RUS) [3]
RADWANSKA, Agnieszka (POL) [4]
ERRANI, Sara (ITA) [5]
LI, Na (CHN) [6]
KERBER, Angelique (GER) [7]
KVITOVA, Petra (CZE) [8]
WOZNIACKI, Caroline (DEN) [9]
KIRILENKO, Maria (RUS) [10]
VINCI, Roberta (ITA) [11]
IVANOVIC, Ana (SRB) [12]
PETROVA, Nadia (RUS) [13]
STOSUR, Samantha (AUS) [14]
BARTOLI, Marion (FRA) [15]
JANKOVIC, Jelena (SRB) [16]
STEPHENS, Sloane (USA) [17]
CIBULKOVA, Dominika (SVK) [18]
SUAREZ NAVARRO, Carla (ESP) [19]
FLIPKENS, Kirsten (BEL) [20]
PAVLYUCHENKOVA, Anastasia (RUS) [21]
CIRSTEA, Sorana (ROU) [22]
LISICKI, Sabine (GER) [23]
PENG, Shuai (CHN) [24]
MAKAROVA, Ekaterina (RUS) [25]
LEPCHENKO, Varvara (USA) [26]
SAFAROVA, Lucie (CZE) [27]
PASZEK, Tamira (AUT) [28]
CORNET, Alize (FRA) [29]
BARTHEL, Mona (GER) [30]
OPRANDI, Romina (SUI) [31]
ZAKOPALOVA, Klara (CZE) [32]
GENTLEMEN’S DOUBLES
BRYAN, Bob (USA) & BRYAN, Mike (USA) [1]
GRANOLLERS, Marcel (ESP) & LOPEZ, Marc (ESP) [2]
PEYA, Alexander (AUT) & SOARES, Bruno (BRA) [3]
PAES, Leander (IND) & STEPANEK, Radek (CZE) [4]
QURESHI, Aisam-Ul-Haq (PAK) & ROJER, Jean-Julien (NED) [5]
LINDSTEDT, Robert (SWE) & NESTOR, Daniel (CAN) [6]
MIRNYI, Max (BLR) & TECAU, Horia (ROU) [7]
BHUPATHI, Mahesh (IND) & KNOWLE, Julian (AUT) [8]
FLEMING, Colin (GBR) & MARRAY, Jonathan (GBR) [9]
GONZALEZ, Santiago (MEX) & LIPSKY, Scott (USA) [10]
BENNETEAU, Julien (FRA) & ZIMONJIC, Nenad (SRB) [11]
DODIG, Ivan (CRO) & MELO, Marcelo (BRA) [12]
LLODRA, Michael (FRA) & MAHUT, Nicolas (FRA) [13]
BOPANNA, Rohan (IND) & ROGER-VASSELIN, Edouard (FRA) [14]
KUBOT, Lukasz (POL) & MATKOWSKI, Marcin (POL) [15]
HUEY, Treat (PHI) & INGLOT, Dominic (GBR) [16]
LADIES’ DOUBLES
ERRANI, Sara (ITA) & VINCI, Roberta (ITA) [1]
HLAVACKOVA, Andrea (CZE) & HRADECKA, Lucie (CZE) [2]
PETROVA, Nadia (RUS) & SREBOTNIK, Katarina (SLO) [3]
MAKAROVA, Ekaterina (RUS) & VESNINA, Elena (RUS) [4]
KOPS-JONES, Raquel (USA) & SPEARS, Abigail (USA) [5]
HUBER, Liezel (USA) & MIRZA, Sania (IND) [6]
GROENEFELD, Anna-Lena (GER) & PESCHKE, Kveta (CZE) [7]
HSIEH, Su-Wei (TPE) & PENG, Shuai (CHN) [8]
PAVLYUCHENKOVA, Anastasia (RUS) & SAFAROVA, Lucie (CZE) [9]
MLADENOVIC, Kristina (FRA) & VOSKOBOEVA, Galina (KAZ) [10]
BLACK, Cara (ZIM) & ERAKOVIC, Marina (NZL) [11]
BARTY, Ashleigh (AUS) & DELLACQUA, Casey (AUS) [12]
KING, Vania (USA) & ZHENG, Jie (CHN) [13]
HANTUCHOVA, Daniela (SVK) & KIRILENKO, Maria (RUS) [14]
CHAN, Hao-Ching (TPE) & MEDINA GARRIGUES, Anabel (ESP) [15]
GOERGES, Julia (GER) & ZAHLAVOVA STRYCOVA, Barbora (CZE) [16]