Not much surprise in Wimbledon seedings

LONDON - Wimbledon exercised an option to use the Championships' unique seedings formula but did not spring too many surprises as Novak Djokovic, the defending champion and world No. 1, was named top seed with Roger Federer at No. 2, ahead of 2013 winner Andy Murray.

This means Murray could expect to face Djokovic or Federer in the semi-finals if things go to plan.

Wimbledon is the only tennis tournament in the world that adopts a unique method to determine the men's seeds.

The All England Club does not just consider the accumulated ATP points of players for determining the seedings but employs a special system to break down the rankings and revise them further.

It involves the total ATP World Tour points accumulated by a player before Monday, the total grass-court points gained by a player in the preceding year and 75 per cent of grass-court points in events where a player has achieved his best result last year.

The only deviation from the ATP World Tour rankings in the top 10 was putting Milos Raonic, the big-serving Canadian, as No. 7 seed above Spain's unstinting baseliner, David Ferrer.

Seeds No. 9 to 16, including Rafael Nadal at No. 10, could come into contact with the likes of Djokovic, Federer, Murray and Stan Wawrinka, the French Open champion, in the fourth round.

Serena Williams is the women's top seed.

Defending champion Petra Kvitova is seeded second, followed by Romania's Simona Halep, who is placed ahead of 2004 winner Maria Sharapova.

THE TIMES, LONDON, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on June 25, 2015, with the headline Not much surprise in Wimbledon seedings. Subscribe