Who are the Wimbledon 2022 men’s & women’s top seeds?

It’s the oldest tennis tournament in the world and regarded by many as the most prestigious. Yes, I’m talking about Pimms, strawberries and delicious whipped cream... as well as a good chance of some rain breaks and potential for 1980s pop artists entertaining Centre Court. Oh wait! There’s a roof now!

So to the stars on the occasionally slippy grass surfaces at SW19, a venue that floods our collective hippocampus with images of an innocent young Boris Becker, some local Henman hope followed by actual Murray magic, then their were the final battles of Borg vs McEnroe, Court vs BJK and Nadal-Federer. Who will reach this year’s showpiece clash? Let’s consider those most likely to...

Wimbledon 2022: top ten seeds

Men’s competition

Defending champion Djokovic takes the top seed due to Russian world number one Daniil Medvedev being banned - thanks to the criminal decision by his country’s president Vladimir Putin - while Germany’s second-ranked Alexander Zverev is missing because of injury. Zverev had surgery on torn ligaments in his right ankle this month after he was forced to retire from his French Open semi-final against Rafael Nadal.

Djokovic, who was unable to defend his 2021 Australian Open title and the 2,000 ranking points he earned due to his non-vaccinated status against covid-19, recently lost his world number one spot to Medvedev. The Serbian, who has won the last three editions of the grasscourt major, will slip further down the rankings after Wimbledon as he will lose another 2,000 points with the ATP and WTA stripping the tournament of points.

The absence of Medvedev and Zverev means Nadal, who is halfway through a possible calendar year Slam after winning the Australian and French Open titles, to be seeded second. It also results in Djokovic and Nadal finding themselves in different halves of the draw and they cannot face each other until the men’s final on 10 July. The duo met in this year’s Roland Garros quarter-final where the Spaniard triumphed.

Women’s competition

Local British fans have two players in the top 10 seeds at their home major this summer. As well as Cameron Norrie trying to follow in Andy Murray’s shoes, in the women’s draw US Open champion Emma Raducanu sneaks in at 10th in the absence of Belarussian Aryna Sabalenka. Poland’s world number one Iga Swiatek is the top seed with Estonian Annett Kontaveit at number two.

Wimbledon organisers had previously used a computer-based system favouring results on grasscourts in the previous two years to determine the seedings but from the 2021 edition seedings mirror the world rankings.