Novak Djokovic and Ashleigh Barty will be spearheading the men’s and women’s singles seeding at the Wimbledon Championships 2021. The seedings for the third grand slam of the year were announced on Wednesday.
World No 1 singles players Djokovic and Barty have been given top seeding at the Wimbledon 2021. Djokovic, who had prevailed over Roger Federer in the 2019 final, will be eyeing his sixth title at the All England club. A title triumph at the Wimbledon will also place him on a par with Federer and Rafael Nadal with 20 Grand Slam titles.
Barty, who was forced to retire at the Roland Garros with a thumb injury, had made it to the fourth at the Wimbledon two summers ago.
Russian Daniil Medvedev will feature at the opposite end of the draw from Djokovic as No.2 seed, recent Roland-Garros runner-up Stefanos Tsitsipas will be the No.3 seed with Dominic Thiem next on the list. The Austrian, who won last year’s US Open, will be hoping a wrist injury that forced him to withdraw from his match at an ATP event in Mallorca on Tuesday heals quickly, states a Wimbledon.com report.
Federer,seeded No. 7, will be gunning for his ninth Wimbledon crown. He had opted out after the French Open third round to focus on his Wimbledon goals.
In-form seeded players in the men’s draw will also include last Sunday’s Queen’s winner Matteo Berrettini from Italy, and the Halle champion from last weekend, Frenchman Ugo Humbert. Both have reached the fourth round at The Championships in the past.
Barty’s main rivals for the ladies’ title on paper include No.2 seed and defending champion Simona Halep, who lost just four games against Serena Williams in the 2019 final. The 29-year-old Romanian hasn’t played competitively since Rome after picking up a calf injury that week.
Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka and Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina are seeded No.3 and No.4. The seven-time champion Williams will start as the No.7 seed and will again try to collect a record-equalling 24th major singles title. The 39-year-old American last won a Grand Slam singles trophy in Australia in 2017.
Former two-time Wimbledon winner Petra Kvitova will start inside the top 16 seeds at No.11, as will the 2017 ladies’ champion Garbiñe Muguruza from Spain, who is seeded No.12.
This year’s Roland-Garros singles and doubles champion, the Czech Republic’s Barbora Krejcikova, will be seeded No.15.
Another two names to follow from next Monday will be American Cori Gauff and last week’s Birmingham champion Ons Jabeur from Tunisia. Gauff provided one of the big stories of the 2019 Championships when she beat Venus Williams as a 15-year-old qualifier en route to the fourth round. They will start the tournament as the No.21 and No.22 seeds respectively.
For the first time since 1978, Great Britain has three singles players seeded. Dan Evans takes the No.23 spot in the men’s draw and Cameron Norrie earns his first seeded place at a major at No.30 after reaching the Queen’s final last Sunday. Former Wimbledon semi-finalist Johanna Konta will be seeded No.28 in the ladies’ draw.
