Serena Williams seeded 25th for Wimbledon
The All England Club has seeded seven-time Wimbledon champion Serena Williams for the grass-court grand slam .
Serena Williams has been seeded 25th for Wimbledon despite being ranked 183rd in the world, the All England Club announced on Wednesday. The seeding committee met on Tuesday to discuss whether the 23-time grand slam singles champion would be seeded as she works her way back up the rankings after giving birth to her first child last September.
Williams was unseeded for her major comeback at the French Open and the All England Club usually bases its seedings on the WTA ranking list. But the legendary American is among the 32 seeds at the expense of Dominika Cibulkova. The 36-year-old has long since stated that players returning from pregnancy should have protected seedings as well as rankings.
Cibulkova not happy
Cibulkova let her feelings be known in no uncertain terms when asked about the prospect of being unseeded for the grass-court major. "Why should I not be seeded if I have the right to be?" she asked. "It would be different if I was number six seed and they put me at number 10, you know. But it's just not fair if there is a player [who misses out] and it's me now. I have the right and I should be seeded and if they put her in front of me then I will just lose my spot that I am supposed to have. I don't know if something like this ever happened before."
Simona Halep is the top seed for the tournament in South West London, which starts next week, after staying on top of the rankings with her maiden major triumph at Roland Garros. Williams is seeded immediately below old foe Maria Sharapova, who she was due to play in the fourth round in Paris before pulling out with a pectoral injury.
Murray unseeded and uncertain to play
Defending champion Roger Federer is the top seed in the men's draw ahead of Rafael Nadal, while Andy Murray is unseeded as he is down in 156th in the rankings following such a long absence. Murray has not yet confirmed whether he will play in his home grand slam, having only recently returned following hip surgery.