Tennis/ Wimbledon: Andy Roddick will look at yesterday's seeding arrangements for Wimbledon and ask himself what he has done to offend the decision-makers. Roddick has been pushed into the third position behind French Open champion Rafael Nadal.

The top American player, whose heavy serve suits the grass more than the Roland Garros clay, has been runner-up at Wimbledon for the last two years, losing both times to the outright favourite and this year's number one seed Roger Federer.

It's a tough break for Roddick as the claycourt specialist Nadal has never been beyond the third round of Wimbledon and after winning in France he openly admitted that he has a long way to go before he feels comfortable on the surface.

Unlike other grand slams, Wimbledon organisers use a formula, which takes into account performances over the last two years on grass to decide seedings, rather than purely following the ATP rankings.

What the current arrangement means is that 20-year-old Nadal, who is second in the ATP rankings, cannot meet defending champion Federer, until the final as he is on the other side of the draw, while Roddick, who is ranked five by the ATP, could meet Federer, the winner for the last three years, at the semi-final stage.

As it is, however, Nadal may not yet arrive, having pulled out of the Stella Artois tournament at the quarter-final stage with a painful shoulder. When asked would he be okay for Wimbledon, he was less than convincing. "I don't know. I don't know. I hope, no? I hope," he said.

Argentina's David Nalbandian is seeded fourth with Croatia's Ivan Ljubicic fifth, reflecting the growing success of claycourt players at Wimbledon. Of the top five seeds, Federer is the only natural serve-volley player.

None of the three main British players are seeded with four-times Wimbledon semi-finalist Tim Henman, Greg Rusedski and Scotland's Andy Murray all too far down the rankings to be included.

France's Amelie Mauresmo is the top seed in the women's singles draw. She is followed by Belgians Kim Clijsters and French Open champion, Justine Henin-Hardenne. The Russian champion from 2004, Maria Sharapova, who was returning from injury in Paris, is in at four with her compatriot Nadia Petrova the fifth seed.

The arrangement of seeds in the women's singles follows the WTA rankings list except where, in the opinion of the committee, the grasscourt credentials of a player necessitates a change in the interest of achieving a balanced draw. For that reason the committee obviously feel that three times winner and defending champion, Venus Williams, should get better protection than her current standing merits and she is seeded seven, five places higher than her WTA ranking.

At the other end of the 32 seed draw is China's Na Li at 28. Li becomes the first player from her country to be seeded in a grand slam singles draw.