Earlier in the week we had the Wimbledon seedings announced and today the draw was made. There has been a lot of noise about seeding Rafael Nadal at number five. After all Rafa has had a phenomenal year, however, Wimbledon, while they have bucked the trend of the other slams in not sticking to the ATP rankings, they have been consistent in using a formula that combines the rankings with a players grass court form over the past two years.
What’s the fuss about? Well the seedings keep the number one and two apart until the final and apart from three and four until the semis. By seeding Rafa at five, he was likely to meet one of the top three (Djokovic, Murray or Federer) in the quarter final.
The complaints about Rafa’s seeding have, in the main, not come from the players but from others. Now the draw has been made we now know what the implications are – if Rafa is to win Wimbledon and results go according to the seedings he will have to beat in turn Federer, Murray and Djokovic. Obviously that also means that Federer has a similarly formidable task in needing to beat Nadal, Murray and Djokovic. I’ve not heard a complaint from either and, prior to the draw being made, Murray had said in an interview that he would be happy with having to play a quarter final against Rafa.
The top players know they are going to have to beat others at the top to win the tournament and that’s the challenge that has made them the competitors that they are. It’s worth noting, for all of us, that we can’t always choose the things that happen to us but we can choose how we react to them!
on court performance 