Friday, June 22, 2012

Tomic given seeding fillip

Updated June 20, 2012 21:54:31

Bernard Tomic has been promoted seven spots to 20th seed for Wimbledon, meaning he will not face any of the big four until the last 16 at the earliest.

Tomic, who reached the quarter-finals last year, is the biggest change from the world rankings made by the All England club who are the only grand slam organisers to reserve the right to order the seeds themselves.

Australia's number one is now assured he will not meet any of the world's best four players until the second week of the competition.

Top seed Novak Djokovic comes into the tournament on the back of his French Open final defeat to Rafael Nadal in Paris which marked the end of a run of three successive grand slam final victories over the world number two, which started when he won Wimbledon for the first time last year.

Six-time Wimbledon champion Roger Federer is seeded third as he seeks to win a grand slam for the first time since the 2010 Australian Open.

Britain's Andy Murray, a loser in the Wimbledon semi-finals for the last three years, is the fourth seed, while France's Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, a beaten semi-finalist at Wimbledon last year, is seeded fifth.

Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic, who lost to Nadal in the 2010 Wimbledon final, is bumped up to the sixth seed, one place above Spain's David Ferrer, who is ranked higher but drops down to seventh seed due to his inferior grass-court record.

Big-serving American Mardy Fish, back in action after serious health issues, is promoted to 10th ahead of John Isner and Nicolas Almagro.

French Open winner Maria Sharapova is the top seed in the womens' singles which reflects the current WTA Tour rankings.

Next come world number two Victoria Azarenka of Belarus and Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska, who is seeded third.

Reigning Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic, who defeated Sharapova in last year's Wimbledon final, is number four.

Australia's Sam Stosur, who has endured a torrid warm-up in grass court events, is the fifth seed and America's Serena Williams, a four-time Wimbledon winner, is seeded sixth.

AFP/ABC

Tags: sport, tennis, australia, united-kingdom

First posted June 20, 2012 21:46:40


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