As he predicted, Andy Murray has been given a seeding of 12 for Wimbledon and he is predictably disgruntled that his seeding for the Championships, which start next week, will be lower than his world ranking of 11.
As he predicted, Andy Murray has been given a seeding of 12 for Wimbledon and he is predictably disgruntled that his seeding for the Championships, which start next week, will be lower than his world ranking of 11.
Unlike the other three grand slams, the All England Club strays from the ATP rankings when it assigns seedings because it likes to take into account players' prowess on grass. It uses a complicated calculation whereby results on the surface over the last two seasons are taken into account, which is why Murray feels he has been penalised for missing last year's British grass-court swing, including Wimbledon, because of a wrist injury. His 2006 result at Wimbledon, when he reached the fourth round, seems to have had little impact.
"It's just tough because of the way they do the seedings there. I feel like I'm one of the top grass-court players in the world, but because I missed it I'm going to lose out, which I think is a little bit tough," said Murray. "I personally think it should be done just on the rankings."
Murray is not the only one with cause to feel a little hard done-by in the seedings. Former finalist Andy Roddick, who is also a four-time champion at the Wimbledon warm-up tournament at Queen's Club, is seeded sixth, below Spaniard David Ferrer and Nikolay Davydenko - seeded fifth and sixth respectively - neither of whom have any grass-court pedigree to speak of.
By contrast, others have done remarkably well out of the All England Club's bit of arithmetic. Marcos Baghdatis is ranked 25 in the world but will be seeded 10th because he reached the quarter-finals last year and the semi-finals the year before. Thomas Berdych of the Czech Republic, who made the last eight at SW19 in 2007, has been similarly smiled upon and is seeded 11th, ahead of Murray and eight places above his world ranking.
Few could argue with five-time champion Roger Federer's seeding, mind you, or that of his main rival for the title, Rafael Nadal, who are the tournaments top seeds with Novak Djokovic just behind. Murray might not be happy with his seeding, but at least being placed at 12 means he cannot face Federer, Nadal or Djokovic before the quarter-finals.
That sort of protection can come in handy, but Murray is well aware of the depth in men's tennis and the dangers presented by players of all rankings. He has yet to get past the quarter-finals of a grand slam - that run to the last 16 two years ago and another fourth-round placing at the 2007 Australian Open remain his best performances at any of the majors - and has learned from bitter experience that potential ambushes are around every corner.
"I played Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the first round of the Australian Open, which at the time looked like a decent draw and then the guy ends up making the final," said Murray.
"Nowadays there are so many guys that can play well, like Ernests Gulbis, who I played at Queen's and who had a great run at the French Open. So you just have to concentrate on each match. You kind of know what's going on around you, but you don't look too far ahead."
The Wimbledon seedings hardly strayed from the rankings when it came to the women. Ana Ivanovic, fresh from her debut grand slam victory at the French Open earlier this month, is the top women's seed at Wimbledon with Jelena Jankovic second, Maria Sharapova third and defending champion Venus Williams seventh.
