On Wednesday, Wimbledon announced the seeds for the impending 2023 Championships which will begin from July 3 onwards at the All England Club. Men’s world No.1s Carlos Alcaraz, by virtue if his title-winning run at The Queen’s Club last week, has been named as top seed ahead of seven-time Wimbledon winner and 22-time Grand Slam champions Novak Djokovic. The two are only projected to meet in the final. In women’s singles category, world no.1 Iga Swiatek has been handed the top seed position with 2021 Wimbledon semi-finalist Aryna Sabalenka announced as No.2 seed and positioned at the the other end of the draw.
Why is Carlos Alcaraz the no.1 seed at Wimbledon 2023 ahead of Novak Djokovic?
In July 2020, the All England Club took a quite but important decision to discontinue the seeding formulae they used for grass court and that the seedings would follow Tour rankings for both men’s and women’s singles draws.
“Given the quality of competition, entertainment and modern grass courts, following detailed discussion with the player groups, the AELTC has decided that the grass court seeding formula used since 2002 has served its time,” the club had said in 2020. “From The Championships 2021, seeding for the Gentlemen’s singles draw will be based solely on ranking. There will be no change to the method of seeding for the Ladies’ singles draw.”
Hence, Alcaraz, who reclaimed the top spot in ATP rankings after lifting his first ever grass court title last week, has been seeded no.1 ahead of defending champion Djokovic, who will be gunning for a fifth straight Wimbledon title. Same goes for Swiatek, who has never made it past the fourth round in her three appearances at the SW19 – 2019 (1R), 2021 (4R), 2022 (3R).
Is Andy Murray seeded at Wimbledon 2023?
Murray is a two-time champion at the All England Club having won in 2013 and 2016. The 36-year-old has however blown hot and cold in the lead up to the grass court major. Despite winning back-to-back challenger titles at Surbiton and Nottingham, with a streak of 10 straight victories, Murray lost to Alex de Minaur in his opener in the ATP 500 event at The Queen’s Club. Later on Tuesday, he lost in straight sets against Holger Rune in the Hurlingham Classic, an annual exhibition event before the Wimbledon.
Although the two challenger titles saw Murray take his ranking to No.38 in the world, his missed out on a seed by a whisker at Wimbledon this year. He will in fact compete with a wild card place. Meanwhile, British No. 1 Cameron Norrie is the 12th seed and Dan Evans is No. 28.
Where is Nick Kyrgios, Elena Rybakina seeded?
Although injury restricted Kyrgios’ performance to just one match so far in 2023, which saw him withdraw from two Wimbledon warm-up events, a run to the final last year at the SW19 and to the quarters in US Open meant the Australian will enter the Slam seeded. He took the final spot in the list.
Rybakina has grown into a force to reckon with on the WTA Tour, but she hasn’t been the same since her title in Rome, which includes a withdrawal from French Open in the third round citing respiratory issues. And in his only grass court event, she fell to Donna Vekic in Berlin in the round of 16 before withdrawing from Eastbourne event citing illness again. She has been seeded third at the Wimbledon this year although there has been no confirmation yet over her participation.
Will Russian and Belarusian players compete at Wimbledon 2023?
In 2022, Russian and Belarusian players were banned from competing in Wimbledon following the invasion of Ukraine. Wimbledon was the only Grand Slam event to take this step making it a first of a kind since post-World War Two era when German and Japanese players were banned. However, the All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) lifted the ban for the 2023 edition although the players will only be allowed to participate as neutrals. This means that the likes of Daniil Medvedev, Sabalenka and Andrey Rublev will be part of the tournament this year.
FULL LIST OF MEN’S SINGLES SEEDS
1. ALCARAZ, Carlos (ESP)
2. DJOKOVIC, Novak (SRB)
3. MEDVEDEV, Daniil
4. RUUD, Casper (NOR)
5. TSITSIPAS, Stefanos (GRE)
6. RUNE, Holger (DEN)
7. RUBLEV, Andrey
8. SINNER, Jannik (ITA)
9. FRITZ, Taylor (USA)
10. TIAFOE, Frances (USA)
11. AUGER-ALIASSIME, Felix (CAN)
12. NORRIE, Cameron (GBR)
13. CORIC, Borna (CRO)
14. MUSETTI, Lorenzo (ITA)
15. DE MINAUR, Alex (AUS)
16. PAUL, Tommy (USA)
17. HURKACZ, Hubert (POL)
18. CERUNDOLO, Francisco (ARG)
19. ZVEREV, Alexander (GER)
20. STRUFF, Jan-Lennard (GER)
21. BAUTISTA AGUT, Roberto (ESP)
22. DIMITROV, Grigor (BUL)
23. KORDA, Sebastian (USA)
24.. BUBLIK, Alexander (KAZ)
25. NISHIOKA, Yoshihito (JPN)
26. JARRY, Nicolas (CHI)
27. SHAPOVALOV, Denis (CAN)
28. EVANS, Daniel (GBR)
29. GRIEKSPOOR, Tallon (NED)
30. ETCHEVERRY, Tomas Martin (ARG)
31. KYRGIOS, Nick (AUS)
32. DAVIDOVICH FOKINA, Alejandro (ESP)
FULL LIST OF WOMEN’S SINGLES SEEDS
1. SWIATEK, Iga (POL)
2. SABALENKA, Aryna
3. RYBAKINA, Elena (KAZ)
4. PEGULA, Jessica (USA)
5. GARCIA, Caroline (FRA)
6. JABEUR, Ons (TUN)
7. GAUFF, Coco (USA)
8. SAKKARI, Maria (GRE)
9. KVITOVA, Petra (CZE)
10. KREJCIKOVA, Barbora (CZE)
11. KASATKINA, Daria
12. KUDERMETOVA, Veronika
13. HADDAD MAIA, Beatriz (BRA)
14. BENCIC, Belinda (SUI)
15. SAMSONOVA, Liudmila
16. MUCHOVA, Karolina (CZE)
17. OSTAPENKO, Jelena (LAT)
18. PLISKOVA, Karolina (CZE)
19. AZARENKA, Victoria
20. VEKIC, Donna (CRO)
21. ALEXANDROVA, Ekaterina
22. POTAPOVA, Anastasia
23. LINETTE, Magda (POL)
24. ZHENG, Qinwen (CHN)
25. KEYS, Madison (USA)
26. KALININA, Anhelina (UKR)
27. PERA, Bernarda (USA)
28. MERTENS, Elise (BEL)
29. BEGU, Irina-Camelia (ROU)
30. MARTIC, Petra (CRO)
31. SHERIF, Mayar (EGY)
32. BOUZKOVA, Marie (CZE)
