The Wimbledon seeding system is peculiar to the All England Club but few will be surprised to see Rafa Nadal placed at 10th when the tournament gets underway on Monday. That is the lowest rank the Spaniard has been seeded at SW19 since he made his debut at the tournament in 2003.
It is worth remembering how Wimbledon works out the seeding arrangement and while it may look like a stack of numbers to some, it means this year there is a possible meeting between Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic in the semifinal.
Nadal was second seed in last year’s tournament but he has had to struggle through a year of doubt about both his body and his form. The talented Australian, Nick Kyrios, a streaky player with the talent to beat anyone in the world, knocked Nadal out in the fourth round at Wimbledon in 2014.
The Spaniard then missed last year’s US Open through injury and was knocked out of both the Australian Open and Roland Garros a few weeks ago at the last eight stage.
His low ranking means he is projected to face one of the players seeded between fifth and eight before the final 16 players are decided. That group includes Japanese hope Kei Nishikori, the heavy serving Tomas Berdych and Canadian Milos Raonic or his old friend, Spain’s David Ferrer.
The top eight are the same as in the world rankings apart from last year’s semi-finalist Raonic moving above clay court specialist Ferrer to seventh seed.
If Nadal reaches the quarter-finals, he will potentially face either top seed Djokovic, second seed Roger Federer, bidding for a record eight titles, or Murray, who is seeded third. The recent winner at Roland Garros, Stan Wawrinka, is seeded fourth with the draw for the Championship taking place on Friday.
The men’s seeding are based on the regular ATP Ranking but since 2002 the order is determined using an objective system to reflect a player’s grass court achievements.
They take the ATP Ranking points at 22 June 2015 and add all the points earned for all grass court tournaments in the past 12 months. They then add 75 percent of the points earned for the best grass court tournament in the 12 months before that.
The women’s seeding order follows the WTA ranking list, except where in the opinion of the Wimbledon committee, a change is necessary to produce a balanced draw.
No surprise there in the ranking ladder with five-time Wimbledon champion, Serena Williams, this year's top seed. The American has won each of the last three Grand Slams, the US Open, Australian Open and French Open, with her last defeat at a major coming in London 12 months ago, when she was knocked out by Alize Cornet of France in the third round.
Defending Wimbledon champion and world number two, Petra Kvitova is seeded second, ahead of Romanian, Simona Halep and 2004 champion Maria Sharapova in fourth.
Ireland’s Danish favourite, Caroline Wozniacki, is seeded fifth this year.
