Federer, Nadal to resume rivalry

TENNIS: Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have been teed up to resume their rivalry in the Wimbledon final after being named as top seeds for this year's men's singles. Federer, who will begin his bid for a fifth straight title on Centre Court at the All England club on Monday, beat Nadal quite comfortably in last year's final.

But the Spaniard is widely tipped to push the Swiss world number one harder this year as he seeks to become the first player since Bjorn Borg to follow up a French Open win with a triumph on the grass courts of southwest London.

American Andy Roddick, fresh from claiming a fourth straight title at Queen's, was seeded third while Serbian Novak Djokovic's good record on grass earned him the fourth seeding, one place above his world ranking.

British number one Andy Murray is seeded eighth, despite doubts about whether he will be able to play because of a wrist injury that has kept him sidelined since last month. Murray was due to appear in an exhibition tournament later on Wednesday but will not make a final decision on his participation until the weekend.

Former champion Lleyton Hewitt's pedigree on the lawns allowed him to squeeze into the top 16 seeds despite the Australian having slipped to 19 in the tour rankings. French Open champion Justine Henin heads the women's seedings ahead of Russian star Maria Sharapova.

Fast-rising Serb Jelena Jankovic is seeded third, one place ahead of defending champion Amelie Mauresmo of France.

Serena Williams is seeded seventh while her sister Venus could provide dangerous opposition for some of the current top players as early as the third round after being given the 24th-seed slot, which is seven places above her current ranking in recognition of her past victories at Wimbledon.

Both the men's and women's seedings are allocated using a combination of tour rankings and a player's record on grass.

The seedings go to the top 32 ranked players on the respective tours. For the men this order is then adjusted on the basis of grass court results over the past two years.

There are fewer adjustments in the order of the women's seeds with changes only sanctioned if a player is judged to have an exceptional record on grass, as was the case this year for Venus Williams.

LONDON, Thursday, AFP