Djokovic, Serena top seeds at Wimbledon

Former world number one Nadal drops down to 10

LONDON: Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams were named top seeds for Wimbledon on Wednesday as two-time champion Rafael Nadal was seeded at 10, his lowly status reflecting his recent struggles.

Defending champion Djokovic and five-time winner Serena are both current world number ones and their top billing was a formality.

Former number one Nadal, the Wimbledon champion in 2008 and 2010, has endured a miserable record at the All England Club in recent times, losing in the second, first and fourth round on his last three visits.

He was dethroned as French Open champion this season and despite winning the grass-court title in Stuttgart, he was then bundled out of Queen’s by Ukrainian journeyman Alexander Dolgopolov in his opening match.

As 10th seed, Nadal could play one of his major rivals such as Djokovic, seven-time champion Roger Federer or 2013 winner Andy Murray as early as the fourth round at Wimbledon which gets under way on Monday.

Federer, fresh from his eighth Halle grass-court title, is seeded two with Murray at three.

Behind Serena, who is bidding to clinch her third major of the year after winning the Australian and French Opens, defending Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova is seeded second.

Romania’s Simona Halep takes the third seeding ahead of Maria Sharapova, the 2004 champion.

With the exception of Canada’s Milos Raonic, a semi-finalist in 2014, being seeded one spot above Spanish veteran David Ferrer, the seedings remained true to the current top 10 rankings in both the men’s and women’s tournaments. 

Published in The Express Tribune, June 25^th,  2015.

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