The seeding system at Wimbledon takes both the players' world ranking and their pedigree on grass into account. This is important because grass is the least used surface on the tours and provides its own unique challenges. A player can be ranked in the top 10 in the world but perhaps be the the 50th best player on grass, such is the difference between the Wimbledon courts and the slower clay and hard courts used at the three other grand slams.
The 32 top players from the men's ATP entry system are arranged into seeds with points added for performances on grass courts over the last two years, taking particular notice of Wimbledon records. It is for this reason that Andy Murray is seeded 12th, one place below his entry system position, due to his missing of Wimbledon last year. World number 25 Marcos Baghdatis - Wimbledon semi finalist and quarter finalist in the last two years - and Tomas Berdych, ranked 19th, move above the Scot.
The ladies' 32 seeds match the WTA rankings, with the Wimbledon committee declining to use their power to adjust the seeds to achieve a balanced draw. This is partly due different court surfaces having less impact on the womens' game, so new world number one Ivanovic, semi finalist last year, is the top seed.
Of the 40 Wimbledon championships played in the open era since 1968, exactly half of the ladies' winners have been seeded number one. 13 of these 20 top seed victories were achieved by Martina Navratilova and Steffi Graf during their period of dominance in the 1980's and 1990's. There is no such dominant player in the ladies game' today, making number one seed wins less likely.
The opposite has been true in the men's game in recent years. Four of Federer's five titles have come as top seed, a period of dominance that followed on swiftly from that enjoyed by Pete Sampras. 18 of the 40 men's open champions have been seeded one.
Federer's victories have been entirely expected, but is less so this year. His relative poor form of one tour title and no grand slam wins, combined with the emergence of Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, suggests the recent gulf in class between number one seed and the rest is far smaller. We might even be in for a return to the glory days of the late 1970's and early 1980's, when Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe were at their peak. Four of the titles won between 1977 and 1983 were by second seeds.
My tips for Wimbledon glory, Nadal and Serena Williams would bring a new winner and a repeat winner, a combination that would also occur if results went according to seeding. It is exciting to have so many clear contenders in the running.
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