A few eyebrows were raised earlier this week when Andy Murray said that he won't mind too much if he has to play Rafael Nadal as early as in the quarter-finals at Wimbledon.
Murray has lost to Nadal three times at Wimbledon but was talking a good game when he said that if he is to win the title for the first time, he will have to beat the top players anyway. But whatever he says in public, the Scot will doubtless be as keen as anyone to avoid the Spaniard so early, a wish that will now depend on luck after French Open champion Nadal was seeded No.5 for the Championships, which begin on Monday.
Wimbledon uses a special formula to decide the men's seedings, which includes their ranking points, all their grass-court points from last year and their best grass-court performance from the previous year.
Effectively, Nadal's second-round defeat by Lukas Rosol 12 months ago – and obviously his seven-month absence through injury – means that David Ferrer edged Nadal out of the No.4 spot. The decision was controversial, not least because Ferrer has only reached the last eight once at Wimbledon, last year, while Nadal has won the title twice.
The upshot of it all is that if the luck goes against him, Murray could play Nadal in the quarter-finals, then Roger Federer in the semi-finals and Novak Djokovic in the final. Murray was seeded No.2 behind Djokovic, with seven-time winner Federer No.3, ahead of Ferrer and Nadal.
Defending champion Serena Williams heads the seedings in the women's event, with Victoria Azarenka at No.2 and Maria Sharapova No.3. Venus Williams was forced to pull out of the event for the first time since 1996 because of a back injury.
Scotland's Colin Fleming and defending champion Jonny Marray will be seeded ninth in the men's doubles, while England's Dominic Inglot is also seeded 16th, with Treat Huey of the Philippines.
There is nothing Murray can do to affect tomorrow's draw, of course, so he will continue his preparations today with an exhibition match against Kei Nishikori of Japan at the exclusive Hurlingham Club in west London.
Meanwhile, another Scot, Elena Baltacha, produced her best performance since she returned to the Tour after injury in April as she pushed the world No.10, Maria Kirilenko, of Russia, all the way.
The pair battled it out for more than 2½ hours in sultry conditions before Kirilenko finally recorded a 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 win in the second round of the Aegon International in Eastbourne. Baltacha had two chances to break in the seventh game of the final set but the Russian held and then broke the Scot in the next game before serving out.
Britain's No 1 Laura Robson showed glimpses of top form but made too many errors as she went down 6-4, 6-4 to former world No 1 Caroline Wozniacki in round two.
Heather Watson pushed Elena Vesnina of Russia to a third set and 18-year-old Kyle Edmund impressed in a 7-6, 7-6 defeat to Frenchman Gilles Simon in round two of the men's event.
Britain's last hopes of adding to their singles numbers at Wimbledon were ended when Naomi Broady and Jade Windley both lost in the second round of the qualifying event.
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