London | Men’s Wimbledon seeds announced

The arrival of Wimbledon in just a few days, was underlined by the organisers releasing this year’s seedings which feature Novak Djokovic, as defending champion, at the top and his main rival Rafa Nadal at the bottom so that they can’t meet until the final.

Their places follow the absence of the world No.1 Daniil Medvedev plus his Russian compatriots and Belarussian colleagues, all banned by the AELTC from this year’s event following Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine with Belarussian support, and the absence of Alexander Zverev, who twisted his ankle badly on the clay courts of Roland Garros during the French Open semi-finals.

Djokovic has yet to win a Slam this year having been deported from Australia for being unvaccinated against Covid and then losing to Nadal at the quarter final stage of the French Open and will be keen to defend his Wimbledon crown having failed to do so at the two preceding majors.

Nadal is now half-way to a Calendar Grand Slam having pocketed both those majors but there will be questions about his fitness having revealed he his playing with basically a ‘dead foot’ which required a painkilling injection prior to each match.

On the British front, two-time champion Andy Murray, despite reaching the final in Stuttgart earlier this month, will not be seeded. He is currently ranked 51, well short of the top 32 eligible to play and so will be a dangerous floater when the draw is finally made on Friday.

Britain’s top men’s seed is Cameron Norrie placed nine while Dan Evans is seeded 29th for the event.

The Championships begin on Monday, June 27 and run for two weeks, with the women’s final on Saturday, July 9 and the men’s final on Sunday, July 10.

Men’s seeds:
1 – Novak Djokovic (Serbia),
2 – Rafael Nadal (Spain),
3 – Casper Ruud (Norway),
4 – Stefanos Tsitsipas (Greece),
5 – Carlos Alcaraz (Spain),
6 – Felix Auger-Aliassime (Canada),
7 – Hubert Hurkacz (Poland),
8 – Matteo Berrettini (Italy),
9 – Cameron Norrie (Great Britain),
10 – Jannik Sinner (Italy),
11 – Taylor Fritz (USA),
12 – Diego Schwartzman (Argentina),
13 – Denis Shapovalov (Canada),
14 – Marin Cilic (Croatia),
15 – Reilly Opelka (USA),
16 – Pablo Carreno Busta (Spain),
17 – Roberto Bautista Agut (Spain),
18 – Grigor Dimitrov (Bulgaria),
19 – Gael Monfils (France),
20 – Alex de Minaur (Australia),
21 – John Isner (USA),
22 – Botic van de Zandschulp (Netherlands),
23 – Nikoloz Basilashvili (Georgia),
24 – Frances Tiafoe (USA),
25 – Holger Rune (Denmark),
26 – Miomir Kecmanovic (Serbia),
27 – Filip Krajinovic (Serbia),
28 – Lorenzo Sonego (Italy),
29 – Dan Evans (Great Britain),
30 – Jenson Brooksby (USA),
31 – Tommy Paul (USA),
32 – Sebastian Baez (Argentina).