Wimbledon 2017: Andy Murray and Angelique Kerber top seeds, Federer nabs No3, Konta No6

Overview of men’s seedings

Just as last year, the top two men in tennis, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray, will be the No1 and No2 seeds at the All England Club when the Wimbledon Championships get underway on Monday. But this year, their positions are reversed, with defending champion Murray topping three-time former champion Djokovic.

Rafael Nadal, who is currently at No2 in the ATP rankings, is seeded No4 after missing out on the Championships last year with a wrist injury, and he has not played a grass tournament this summer. Roger Federer, No5 in the regular rankings, picks up the valuable boost into the top four at No3 courtesy of his semi run last year plus his victory this week in Halle.

Wimbledon applies a special formula [see below] to fine-tune its men’s seedings according to grass prowess. So like Nadal, Stan Wawrinka finds himself lower than his actual ranking, at No5.

Conversely, the 34-year-old Gilles Muller, at a career-high 26, is a big beneficiary of the system. His s-Hertogenbosch title and semi finish at Queen’s have lifted him to No16, meaning he cannot meet a higher seed before the fourth round.

Muller has never been seeded at Wimbledon before, and at the other age extreme, 21-year-old Karen Khachanov is boosted from his career-high ranking of 34 to be seeded for the first time at 30.

Others seeded at the All England Club for the first time include 35-year-old Paolo Lorenzi, 29-year-old Albert Ramos-Vinolas, and 29-year-old Mischa Zverev, at 25, 32 and 27 respectively.

Among the old guard who have missed the cut-off are the likes of David Ferrer, Gilles Simon, Kevin Anderson and Philipp Kohlschreiber.

Overview of women’s seedings

On the women’s side, with defending champion Serena Williams out of contention due to pregnancy, the top four has a rather different look from last year. Angelique Kerber rises from No4 to No1, with Simona Halep—who is competing with Kerber for the No1 WTA ranking this week in Eastbourne—at No2.

Some of the biggest improvers over the last year are Karolina Pliskova, up from 15 to No3 and Elina Svitolina up from 17 to No4.

Briton Johanna Konta is this year seeded to reach the quarter-finals at No6—last year she was at No16—and last year’s No19 Dominika Cibulkova is also into the valuable top eight. But moving in the opposite direction is 2015 Wimbledon finalist, Garbine Muguruza, who has slipped from No2 last year to No14 this.

Another former Wimbledon finalist, Agnieszka Radwanska, has also dropped from the top four seeds to outside the top eight at No9, while Roberta Vinci, No6 last year, just makes the cut-off at No31.

One notable seed is Petra Kvitova at No11, who has been absent from the tour since last December following a stabbing to her playing left hand. Determined to appear at her favourite tournament—she is a two-time champion—she accelerated her return to the tour with a surprise entry at the French followed by a remarkable title-run in Birmingham last week.

Also making a return is Victoria Azarenka, who had a baby six months ago. Unseeded she may be, but none of the 32 will want to find her in their section. Another interesting addition to the seeds is Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, who first played Wimbledon in 1998, made the semis while ranked 134 in 1999, but has never before been seeded.

One young player should also not be overlooked: seeded for the first time at No13, the 20-year-old Jelena Ostapenko is fresh from winning the French Open, yet possesses a game that will surely suit grass even better.

Notable absentees from the seedings, in addition to those who are injured [see below] are Sloane Stephens, though she is playing this year following foot surgery, Sara Errani and Jelena Jankovic.

Did you know?

· Seedings were introduced in 1927.

· Since then, only two unseeded men have won Wimbledon: Boris Becker in 1985 and Goran Ivanisevic in 2001. Eleven unseeded men have reached the final.

· No unseeded woman has ever won Wimbledon, but four unseeded women have reach the final.

· Men’s seedings are based on the ATP rankings but then rearranged to give credit for grass-court performance in the precious two years thus:

o Ranking points at 26 June;

o Add 100% of the points earned for all grass tournaments in the immediate past 12 months;

o Add 75% of the points earned for best grass court tournament in the 12 months prior to that.

· Women’s seedings are based on WTA rankings, except where in the opinion of the committee, a change is necessary to produce a balanced draw. This year, there have been no changes.

Previous Wimbledon champions in draw

· Women: Venus Williams (five times), Petra Kvitova (twice)

· Men: Roger Federer (seven times), Novak Djokovic (three times), Rafael Nadal (twice), Andy Murray (twice and defending)

Previous Wimbledon finalists in draw in addition to champions:

· Women: Agnieszka Radwanska, Sabine Lisicki, Eugenie Bouchard, Garbine Muguruza, Angelique Kerber

· Men: Tomas Berdych, Milos Raonic

Grass finalists this summer

Men

· Stuttgart, Lucas Pouille beat Feliciano Lopez

· s-Hertogenbosch, Gilles Muller beat Ivo Karlovic

· Halle, Roger Federer beat Sascha Zverev

· Queen’s London, Feliciano Lopez beat Marin Cilic

Women

· Nottingham, Donna Vekic beat Johanna Konta

· s-Hertogenbosch, Anett Kontaveit beat Natalia Vikhlyantseva

· Birmingham, Petra Kvitova beat Ashleigh Barty

· Mallorca, Anastasija Sevastova beat Julia Goerges

Men’s seeds

[Missing injured: David Goffin, Pablo Carreno Busta, Pablo Cuevas]

1 Andy Murray
2 Novak Djokovic
3 Roger Federer
4 Rafael Nadal

5 Stan Wawrinka
6 Milos Raonic
7 Marin Cilic
8 Dominic Thiem

9 Kei Nishikori
10 Alexander Zverev
11 Tomas Berdych
12 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
13 Grigor Dimitov
14 Lucas Pouille
15 Gael Monfils
16 Gilles Muller

17 Jack Sock
18 Roberto Bautista Agut
19 Feliciano Lopez
20 Nick Kyrgios
21 Ivo Karlovic
22 Richard Gasquet
23 John Isner
24 Sam Querrey
25 Albert Ramos Vinolas
26 Steve Johnson
27 Mischa Zverev
28 Fabio Fognini
29 Juan Martin del Potro
30 Karen Khachanov
31 Fernando Verdasco
32 Paolo Lorenzi

Women’s seeds

[Missing injured Sam Stosur]

1 Angelique Kerber
2 Simona Halep
3 Karoline Pliskova
4 Elina Svitolina

5 Caroline Wozniacki
6 Johanna Konta
7 Svetlana Kuznetsova
8 Dominika Cibulkova

9 Agnieszka Radwanska
10 Venus Williams
11 Petra Kvitova
12 Kristina Mladenovic
13 Jelena Ostapenko
14 Garbine Muguruza
15 Elena Vesnina
16 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova

17 Madison Keys
18 Anastasija Sevastova
19 Timea Bacsinszky
20 Daria Gavrilova
21 Caroline Garcia
22 Barbora Strycova
23 Kiki Bertens
24 Coco Vandeweghe
25 Carla Suarez Navarro
26 Mirjana Lucic-Baroni
27 Ana Konjuh
28 Lauren Davis
29 Daria Kasatkina
30 Shuai Zhang
31 Roberta Vinci
32 Lucie Safarova