The Wimbledon 2017 seeds were announced for men's singles on Wednesday and the top sixteen are listed at the end of this article. The seeding isn't simply a matter of looking at a player's ranking and seeding him accordingly. Rather, adjustments are made for grass court results in the last 24 months, with more weight placed on the most recent 12 months. At the end of it, Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic are the top two seeds heading into the All England Club's major grass court tournament.
Grand Slam tennis tournaments don't follow the normal seeding pattern that you see in other sports when it comes to placement in the draw.
The typical seeding arrangement that's common in sports would see, for example, a No. 1 seed face a No. 32 seed in the round of 32. The same round, if a normal seeding arrangement was followed, would see the No. 2 seed face the No. 31 and the pattern would continue on as such. In Grand Slam tennis, the arrangements are more jumbled, however, there are still some certainties.
There are 'bubble' seeds for draw difficulty
For instance, if you are seeded in the top 16, then it's not possible to face a player ranked higher than you until the round of sixteen. If you are seeded in the top 8, then you are guaranteed not to face a higher-ranked player until the quarterfinals. From that point of view, getting seeded 16th instead of 17th is a big deal and getting seeded 8th instead of 9th is a big deal as well.
For instance, Dominic Thiem, the No. 8 seed at Wimbledon 2017, is only marginally better seeded than No. 9 seed Kei Nishikori. However, Nishikori could end up facing a very dangerous player in the fourth round while Thiem should end up with a much easier match at that stage in the tournament, should both players make it that far.
Nishikori "bubbled" for a top-eight seed and that hurts his chances of making the quarterfinals as he might play someone like Milos Raonic in the fourth round.
Roger Federer benefited from Wimbledon's seeding
Along the same lines, Roger Federer, the betting favorite to win Wimbledon 2017, received a seed that should help him in the tournament.
He's the No. 3 seed heading into Wimbledon 2017 despite an outright ranking of No. 5. A 5th-seeded player, if the seeds held up, would face a top-four player in the quarterfinals. However, Federer getting a three seed might help keep him in the tournament longer as he is guaranteed not to face a higher-seeded player until at least the semifinal round. Conversely, Rafael Nadal, the current World No. 2, lost out a bit as he is only seeded 4th at this year's Wimbledon event. That means he may face a top-two seed in the semifinals.
The seeds are out, but the draw has not yet been released. It will come out in the days ahead with first-round action scheduled to start on July 3rd at the All England Club in the greater-London area.
The top-sixteen singles seeds for men's singles are listed below:
- No. 1 Andy Murray
- No. 2 Novak Djokovic
- No. 3 Roger Federer
- No. 4 Rafael Nadal
- No. 5 Stan Wawrinka
- No. 6 Milos Raonic
- No. 7 Marin Cilic
- No. 8 Dominic Thiem
- No. 9 Kei Nishikori
- No. 10 Alexander Zverev
- No. 11 Tomas Berdych
- No. 12 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
- No. 13 Grigor Dimitrov
- No. 14 Lucas Pouille
- No. 15 Gael Monfils
- No. 16 Gilles Muller
