Top seedings go to Alcaraz, Swiatek

Carlos Alcaraz — not four-time defending champion Novak Djokovic — and Iga Swiatek were seeded No 1 for Wimbledon on Wednesday, as expected, because the All England Club adhered to the ATP and WTA rankings.

Alcaraz overtook Djokovic atop the men's standings on Monday. Djokovic has not played since collecting his men's-record 23rd Grand Slam title at the French Open on June 11 and slid to No 2, while Alcaraz rose one spot after winning a grass-court tuneup tournament at Queen's Club in London on Sunday.

Djokovic has won the championship at Wimbledon each of the past four times it was held — and seven times overall — but he did not benefit from a ranking boost in 2022 because the ATP and WTA withheld all points to protest the All England Club's decision to ban players from Russia and Belarus because of the Ukraine conflict.

Those athletes are allowed to compete this year, and Russia's Daniil Medvedev is seeded No 3 in the men's field, while Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka is No 2 in the women's field.

The draw to set up the singles brackets will be Friday. The tournament begins Monday.

Casper Ruud is No 4 of the 32 men's seeds, followed by Stefanos Tsitsipas, Holger Rune, Jannik Sinner, Taylor Fritz and Frances Tiafoe. Nick Kyrgios, the runner-up to Djokovic at Wimbledon a year ago, is seeded 31st.

Two-time Wimbledon champion Andy Murray is ranked 39th and is not seeded.

Swiatek has been ranked No 1 since April 2022 and owns four Grand Slam titles, most recently at the French Open. She has never been past the fourth round at Wimbledon.

Elena Rybakina, the 2022 women's champion at the All England Club, is No 3 among the women's 32 seeds, followed by Jessica Pegula, Caroline Garcia, Ons Jabeur, Coco Gauff, Maria Sakkari, two-time champion Petra Kvitova and Barbora Krejcikova.

From 2002 to 2019, the All England Club based its seedings for the men's draw on a formula that took into account results on grass at Wimbledon and elsewhere. But after that, the tournament opted to simply follow the rankings to determine all seeds.

Agencies via Xinhua