Wimbledon Seeds, Brackets Announced: Federer-Nadal Could Meet in Quarters

The seeds and draws were announced for Wimbledon early Friday morning. The tournament starts on Monday, but there is one major player missing from the men’s top four.

Usually the top four are Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, and Rafael Nadal. Even thought he just won his record eighth French Open Nadal is seeded at #5. The up and coming David Ferrer received the #4 seed to the shock of the tennis world. The Guardian explains how the seeds are given out:

 “The seeds are the top 32 players on the ATP Entry System Position (ESP), but then rearranged on a surface-based system. Since 2002 a seeding committee has not been required for the gentlemen’s singles following an agreement made with the ATP. The seeding order is determined using an objective and transparent system to reflect more accurately an individual player’s grass-court achievements.

“The formula is: take ESP points at 17 June 2013; add 100% points earned for all grass-court tournaments in the past 12 months; add 75% points earned for the best grass-court tournament in the 12 months before that.”

Nadal was defeated in the second round last year due to two bad knees and missed seven months. But he came back after the Australian Open and been incredibly dominant. They did not take into account Nadal’s excellent history and Ferrer’s lukewarm history at Wimbledon:

Between 2006 and 2011, Nadal never failed to reach the final, winning it twice. In 2008, he beat Federer in the best final since McEnroe-Borg in 1980 (many say it was better). Nadal has won 36 of 42 matches at Wimbledon, supposedly his weakest surface, since he first played there 10 years ago.

The deepest Ferrer has been in the draw in 10 visits is the quarter-finals, where he lost to Murray in a tough four-setter last year; the year before, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga beat him in the round of 16; in 2010, Robin Soderling did the same.

The brackets are also just as confusing. The draw led to Nadal possibly facing Roger Federer, the reigning Wimbledon champion, in the quarterfinals. More than likely both will advance that far.

The women’s seeds and brackets are not so mind-boggling. Serena Williams, who won the French Open just a few weeks ago, received the #1 seed and Victoria Azarenka and Maria Sharapova followed at #2 and #3.