It is only a matter of time before the first ball is bounced and the first umpire clears their throat: Wimbledon begins this coming Monday, the 25th of June.
The draw is yet to be made, but the seedings have been released for Tennis’ flagship event.
There are no major surprises, with Novak Djokovic coming in as first seed, with French Open winner Rafael Nadal coming in behind that and the illustrious Roger Federer making up the feared top three.
Andy Murray, who will have so much local support as well as an incredible amount of pressure upon him, comes in at fourth seed, but is closely followed by the ever improving Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France in fifth.
The rest of the top ten is made up (in descending order) of Tomas Berdych (Czech), David Ferrer (Spain), Janko Tipserevic (Serbia), Juan Martin Del Potro (Argentina) and Mardy Fish (USA).
John Isner and Andy Roddick are also seeded, with the former coming in at 11th and the latter being ranked 30th.
The draw will be made on Friday at Wimbledon’s All England Club, SW 19, but already many are struggling to see past the top 3. If anyone can topple the best it could be the upstart Tsonga who has a bullish approach, and many also reckon that Murray is in with a sniff. However, with this being proclaimed a ‘Golden Age’ the competition is never easy.
As for the women’s draw, there are some notable ratings. Maria Sharapova comes in as number 1, but she will have to contend with the likes of Czech Republic’s Petra Kvitova (4), USA’s Serena Williams (6), Denmark’s Caroline Wozniaki (7) and France’s Marion Bartoli (9).
