Just six days before starting its final phase, Wimbledon has made public the various heads of series for the tournament, and, therefore, there are already clues about the composition of the paintings. In the men’s singles, the organization has confirmed that the Serbian Novak Djokovic, defending champion and number three in the world, will be the top seed, while Rafa Nadal, fourth in the ATP ranking, will occupy seed number two. This means that each tennis player will lead one of the two sides of the table, avoiding a duel between the two until a hypothetical final.
The absence of Daniil Medvedev and Alexander Zverev, number one and two in the world, respectively, has made it possible for the Serbian and Spanish to occupy these positions of privilege. The Russian tennis player is prohibited from participating in the London Grand Slam due to his country’s invasion of Ukraine, while the German will not be in the tournament due to his serious ankle ligament injury caused in the Roland Garros semifinals . A possible final between Nadal and Djokovic at Wimbledon is not something very common, and it is that that situation only occurred in 2011, with Nole’s victory. In fact, they have only met three times in this tournament, and four on grass if you add a duel at Queen’s. The balance is two wins and two losses for each.
Until 2019, Wimbledon was the only major tournament to seed through a proprietary formula based on results on grass. This provoked criticism from many players, including Rafa Nadal, and the event stopped using it since last year, now guided by the ATP ranking. Apart from Nadal, there will be three other Spaniards who occupy one of the 32 designated positions. the murcian Carlos Alcaraz, in his second appearance at Wimbledon, will be the fifth seedand for sure he will share side of the draw with Nadal or Djokovic, as well as with the third or fourth best ranked (Ruud y Tsitsipas). Pablo Carreño is 16th, and Roberto Bautista 17th. The top-10 is completed Felix Auger-Aliassime (6th), Hubert Hurkacz (7th), last year’s finalist Matteo Berrettini (8th), Cameron Norrie (9th) and Jannik Sinner (10th).
Badosa is fourth and Garbiñe ninth
In the women’s singles, the main absences are those of the Russian and Belarusian players who are not allowed to participate, such as Sabalenka, Kasatkina or Azarenka. The first seed is the player of the moment, Iga Swiatek, while the other side of the draw will be headed by Anett Kontaveit. The Spanish Paula Badosa occupies the same position as in the WTA ranking, fourth, so in the draw it will land on the side of one of the two players mentioned above. Garbiñe Muguruza, who already knows what it’s like to win Wimbledon, gains a place with respect to her position in the ranking thanks to the absence of Sabalenka, so she will be the ninth seed. Sara Sorribes, for her part, occupies the last designated position, 32. The highest seeds face the risk of crossing paths with Serena Williams, who returns after a year without playing, logically without being seeded, so she will have a difficult path.
Granollers and Zeballos, seconds
In the men’s doubles, the pair formed by the Spanish Marcel Granollers and the Argentine Horacio Zeballos occupies the second ‘seed’, behind only Ram and Salisbury. The Spanish-speaking duo, who were crowned champions in Halle this past Sunday, are in their highest career Grand Slam spot, and will lead one side of the draw in the quest for the title.
