MY ACCOUNT
Defending men’s champion Novak Djokovic and women’s world No1 Iga Swiatek head the seedings for Wimbledon, which starts on Monday.
The championships issued its lists of seeds on Tuesday, with Russian and Belarusian players absent from the line-up after they were excluded from the tournament because of the ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
It means Russia’s men’s world number one Daniil Medvedev is absent, while Germany’s second-ranked Alexander Zverev also misses out, in his case because of an ankle injury.
With Wimbledon sticking to the ATP and WTA rankings, that means world No3 Djokovic automatically moves up to the top seeding as he chases a seventh title at the All England Club, and a 21st grand slam win of his career.
Two-time Wimbledon winner Rafael Nadal is the second seed, with the Spaniard having already won the Australian Open and French Open titles this year to nudge two majors ahead of Djokovic and Roger Federer on the all-time men’s list.
Federer, still battling his way back from knee surgery, will not play Wimbledon this year and turns 41 in August.
Norway’s Casper Ruud, fresh from reaching the French Open final, is the third seed, with Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas fourth.
Spanish teenager Carlos Alcaraz is fifth, while Great Britain’s Cameron Norrie, ninth on the list, receives his first top-10 seeding at Wimbledon.
Norrie is bumped up from his world ranking of No12, given world No8 Andrey Rublev, another Russian, is prevented from competing.
The women’s reigning champion Ash Barty has retired since capturing the title last July, so her successor as the dominant player on the WTA Tour, Swiatek, assumes the top seeding.
Swiatek has reeled off 35 consecutive match wins, dominating on hardcourts and clay, but she has less of a grass pedigree, albeit the 21-year-old Pole is a former junior Wimbledon champion.
Last year saw Swiatek lose in the fourth round to Tunisian Ons Jabeur, who is the third seed this time. Estonia’s Anett Kontaveit is the second seed, with Wimbledon no longer making any allowances for grass-court prowess, as it used to when devising its seeding lists.
Britain’s Emma Raducanu, like Norrie, is a Wimbledon top-10 seed for the first time. The shock US Open champion is seeded 10th, one ahead of the American teenager Coco Gauff.
The format means there will be dangerous unseeded players in the draw, notably Nick Kyrgios and two-time champion Andy Murray in the men’s singles.
Serena Williams, the seven-time women’s champion, is entered on a wildcard and is also unseeded.
Williams, 40, has not played singles since abandoning her first-round match at Wimbledon last year due to injury, but entered this week’s doubles event at Eastbourne, partnering Jabeur.
Men’s top 10: 1. Novak Djokovic, 2. Rafael Nadal, 3. Casper Ruud, 4. Stefanos Tsitsipas, 5. Carlos Alcaraz, 6. Felix Auger-Aliassime, 7. Hubert Hurkacz, 8. Matteo Berrettini, 9. Cameron Norrie, 10. Jannik Sinner
Women’s top 10: 1. Iga Swiatek, 2. Anett Kontaveit, 3. Ons Jabeur, 4. Paula Badosa, 5. Maria Sakkari, 6. Karolina Pliskova, 7. Danielle Collins, 8. Jessica Pegula, 9. Garbine Muguruza, 10. Emma Raducanu
