Carlos Alcaraz — and not four-time defending champion Novak Djokovic — and Iga Swiatek are the two top seeds for Wimbledon.
There was speculation the All England Club may stray from the ATP rankings and award Djokovic the top seed.
After winning the title at Queens last weekend, Alcaraz moved back past Djokovic to re-take the world No.1 the Serb had taken by winning Roland-Garros.
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Alcaraz is the first man since Lleyton Hewitt in 2003 not called Nadal, Federer, Djokovic or Murray to hold the top seed.
Djokovic has won at Wimbledon each of the past four times it was held — and seven times overall — but he did not benefit from a ranking boost in 2022 because the ATP and WTA withheld all points to protest the All England Club’s decision to ban players from Russia and Belarus because of the invasion of Ukraine.
Those athletes are allowed to compete this year, and Russian player Daniil Medvedev is seeded No.3 in the men’s field, while Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka is No.2 in the women’s field.
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The draw to set up the singles brackets will be held on Friday evening (AEST), before play begins on Monday.
Casper Ruud is No.4 of the 32 men’s seeds, followed by Stefanos Tsitsipas, Holger Rune, Jannik Sinner, Taylor Fritz and Frances Tiafoe. Nick Kyrgios, the runner-up to Djokovic at Wimbledon a year ago, is seeded 31st.
Two-time Wimbledon champion Andy Murray is ranked 39th and is not seeded.
Swiatek has been ranked No.1 since April 2022 and owns four Grand Slam titles, including last time out at Roland-Garros. However, grass remains her weakest surface, having never gone further than the fourth round at Wimbledon.
Elena Rybakina, the 2022 women’s champion at the All England Club, is No.3 among the women’s 32 seeds, followed by Jessica Pegula, Caroline Garcia, Ons Jabeur, Coco Gauff, Maria Sakkari, two-time champion Petra Kvitova and Barbora Krejcikova.
From 2002 to 2019, the All England Club based its seedings for the men's draw on a formula that took into account results on grass at Wimbledon and elsewhere. But after that, the tournament opted to simply follow the rankings to determine all seeds.
– With Damien McCartney
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