TheSportsCampus

The seedings of the third Grand Slam of the year, Wimbledon, were announced today and there were no real surprises as the All England Club expectedly stuck closely to the current world rankings, with very few deviations on the gentlemen's side and absolutely none in the ladies' section. Defending champion and world no.1, Novak Djokovic heads the pack on the men's side with his counterpart in the WTA rankings, Maria Sharapova, the winner of the 2012 French Open, getting the top billing in the ladies' section. With the role of injuries being reduced to a bare minimum, the only casualty on either side was the men's 15th seed, Gael Monfils.

Fate has strange ways of recreating history. This time last year it was the then world no.2, Novak Djokovic, who had inflicted two painful defeats on Rafael Nadal on his beloved clay and was enjoying an out-of-the-world season with his only loss in the year up to that point coming in the semis of the French Open. Fast forward one year, and it is the Spaniard, who deservedly got the second seed at this year's wimbledon, who had banished his demons and is enjoying a 3-match winning streak against Djokovic. Nadal, who lost just a single set while dispatching his competitor with consummate ease to bag his 7th Roland Garros crown, would be high in confidence as he aims for yet more Grand Slam glory. The Serbian, nevertheless, will not be disheartened as all the three loses have come on the Spaniard's beloved and Djokovic's least favorite surface, clay, and after having already won a Grand Slam this year beating his arch-nemesis in the process, he will believe that he has what it takes to win another.

The 6 time champion Roger Federer, the local favorite Andy Murray and charismatic Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga rounds off the top 5 seeds. The Swiss Maestro comes into the tournament as a second tier threat to win the whole event, having not won a Slam since January 2010. Murray, meanwhile is going through a slump too, his last title triumph of any nature being January in the Brisbane International. Tsonga, on the other hand, is enjoying a rich vein of form, pushing the world no.1 Novak Djokovic to the brink at this year's French Open and though he suffered an uncharacteristic loss in the 2nd round of Queen's, his all-out aggression and his amazing feel at the net might propel him towards Grand Slam glory.

Meanwhile, Wimbledon's policy of taking previous grass-court performance into consideration came to the rescue of many players. The main beneficiary of this policy was the Australian rising talent, Bernard Tomic who saw his seeding soar to 20 from his world ranking of 27 owing to his impressive quarterfinal-run in his previous outing at the prestigious event. The 2010 finalist, Tomas Berdych, was also on the lucky side as he swapped places with David Ferrer to go ahead as the sixth seed in this year's Wimbledon. Other beneficiaries include American, Mardy Fish, who climbed up to the 10th place, Marin Cilic, the winner of Queen's last weekend, elevated from 17th to 14th and American veteran, Andy Roddick, despite his series of first-round exits got himself the 30th seed, due to previous performances.

On the women's side, Sharapova is the strong favorite as she heads into the green lawns of Wimbledon with immense confidence, having just won the Roland Garros crown to complete her set of Grand Slams. Following the Russian in the seeding list, is the world no.2, Victoria Azarenka, who despite having won the first Grand Slam of the year faded off as the European clay season got into full-flight. Nevertheless, grass courts have always played to her all-court attacking style of play and she could very well end up winning the second Grand Slam of the year and in the process, getting back the no.1 ranking. Petra Kvitova, who defeated Sharapova in last year's final, has been seeded fourth.

Serena Williams, the ever-green American, who, eventhough, was ousted from the first round of the French Open, had enjoyed impressive results throughout the year and poses a serious threat in adding to her overall tally of 13 Grand Slams. Other threats and dark horses include the 3rd seed, Agnieszka Radwanska, fifth seeded, Samantha Stosur and Sara Errani, the 10th seed and the French Open finalist.

Gentlemen's Singles:
Novak DJOKOVIC (SRB) [1]
Rafael NADAL (ESP) [2]
Roger FEDERER (SUI) [3]
Andy MURRAY (GBR) [4]
Jo-Wilfried TSONGA (FRA) [5]
Tomas BERDYCH (CZE) [6]
David FERRER (ESP) [7]
Janko TIPSAREVIC (SRB) [8]
Juan Martin DEL POTRO (ARG) [9]
Mardy FISH (USA) [10]
John ISNER (USA) [11]
Nicolas ALMAGRO (ESP) [12]
Gilles SIMON (FRA) [13]
Feliciano LOPEZ (ESP) [14]
Juan MONACO (ARG) [15]
Marin CILIC (CRO) [16]
Fernando VERDASCO (ESP) [17]
Richard GASQUET (FRA) [18]
Kei NISHIKORI (JPN) [19]
Bernard TOMIC (AUS) [20]
Milos RAONIC (CAN) [21]
Alexandr DOLGOPOLOV (UKR) [22]
Andreas SEPPI (ITA) [23]
Marcel GRANOLLERS (ESP) [24]
Stanislas WAWRINKA (SUI) [25]
Mikhail YOUZHNY (RUS) [26]
Philipp KOHLSCHREIBER (GER) [27]
Radek STEPANEK (CZE) [28]
Julien BENNETEAU (FRA) [29]
Andy RODDICK (USA) [30]
Florian MAYER (GER) [31]
Kevin ANDERSON (RSA) [32]

Ladies’ Singles:
Maria SHARAPOVA (RUS) [1]
Victoria AZARENKA (BLR) [2]
Agnieszka RADWANSKA (POL) [3]
Petra KVITOVA (CZE) [4]
Samantha STOSUR (AUS) [5]
Serena WILLIAMS (USA) [6]
Caroline WOZNIACKI (DEN) [7]
Angelique KERBER (GER) [8]
Marion BARTOLI (FRA) [9]
Sara ERRANI (ITA) [10]
Na LI (CHN) [11]
Vera ZVONAREVA (RUS) [12]
Dominika CIBULKOVA (SVK) [13]
Ana IVANOVIC (SRB) [14]
Sabine LISICKI (GER) [15]
Flavia PENNETTA (ITA) [16]
Maria KIRILENKO (RUS) [17]
Jelena JANKOVIC (SRB) [18]
Lucie SAFAROVA (CZE) [19]
Nadia PETROVA (RUS) [20]
Roberta VINCI (ITA) [21]
Julia GOERGES (GER) [22]
Petra CETKOVSKA (CZE) [23]
Francesca SCHIAVONE (ITA) [24]
Jie ZHENG (CHN) [25]
Anabel MEDINA GARRIGUES (ESP) [26]
Daniela HANTUCHOVA (SVK) [27]
Christina MCHALE (USA) [28]
Monica NICULESCU (ROU) [29]
Shuai PENG (CHN) [30]
Anastasia PAVLYUCHENKOVA (RUS) [31]
Svetlana KUZNETSOVA (RUS) [32]

File Photograph Copyright: Simon Tregidgo