The seeds at Wimbledon, or the All-England Tennis Championships, were revealed today on the 22nd of June, 2016.
Predictably, World No. 1 Novak Djokovic is the top seed at the tournament. The reigning champion is fresh off his maiden French Open victory, which is his 12th Grand Slam title overall. Among the women, it is 21-time Grand Slam winner Serena Williams who is top seeded. The American is fresh off a finals finish at the 2016 French Open, where she lost the title to Spain’s Garbine Muguruza, with the Spaniard taking her maiden grand slam title at Roland Garros.
Earlier last month, former World No. 1 Rafael Nadal announced that he would not be participating in the Championships due to a wrist injury that is yet to heal completely. The Spaniard, a two-time winner at Wimbledon, had been enjoying a strong return to form with significant clay-court successes in the 2016 season before the injury derailed his momentum.
The seedings for the men’s singles at Wimbledon are not done purely on the basis of a player’s rank, but take into account his proficiency on grass. It is not just a player’s total championship ranking points that are added up; his results of the past two years on grass courts will be given points that are added to his total, and it is this sum that ultimately affects a player’s seeding at Wimbledon.
Full seedings:
Men’s singles:
1 DJOKOVIC, Novak (SRB)
2 MURRAY, Andy (GBR)
3 FEDERER, Roger (SUI)
4 WAWRINKA, Stan (SUI)
5 NISHIKORI, Kei (JPN)
6 RAONIC, Milos (CAN)
7 GASQUET, Richard (FRA)
8 THIEM, Dominic (AUT)
9 CILIC, Marin (CRO)
10 BERDYCH, Tomas (CZE)
Of the top 10 seeds, it is Richard Gasquet, ranked 10th on the ATP circuit, who gains the most relative to his ranking; the Frenchman finished at the semi-finals of Wimbledon last year, losing to eventual champion Novak Djokovic.
13th-ranked Marin Cilic also benefits from the seeding system. The Croat, who finds himself in the top 10 seeds at the Championships, had a semi-final finish at the Aegon Championships at the Queen’s Club, London, going down in three sets to eventual champion Andy Murray in the final grass court tournament before Wimbledon.
Australian player Nick Kyrgios also receives a move up the rankings as a result, seeded 15th at the tournament.
But not all players have benefited. Czech ace Tomas Berdych, 9th on the ATP rankings, just makes the top 10 cut at Wimbledon with a straight sets loss to Marcos Baghdatis in the first round of the Gerry Weber Open in Halle, Germany.
Women’s singles
1 WILLIAMS, Serena (USA)
2 MUGURUZA, Garbine (ESP)
3 RADWANSKA, Agnieszka (POL)
4 KERBER, Angelique (GER)
5 HALEP, Simona (ROU)
6 AZARENKA, Victoria (BLR)
7 VINCI, Roberta (ITA)
8 BENCIC, Belinda (SUI)
9 WILLIAMS, Venus (USA)
10 KEYS, Madison (USA)
World No. 1 Serena Williams, the reigning champion and a 6-time winner at Wimbledon, is the top seed at the tournament. French Open winner and newly crowned World No. 2 Garbine Muguruza is seeded second behind the American, with the women’s seeds following the players’ WTA rankings.
A surprise entrant this year is 10th seed Madison Keys, who has become the first American in a decade to break the WTA top 10 – a feat last achieved by reigning World No. 1 Serena Williams.
