LONDON (AP) — Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams were seeded No. 1 for Wimbledon on Wednesday, while defending champion Andy Murray moved up two spots above his ranking to the third seed.
Djokovic, the 2011 Wimbledon champion, was ranked No. 2 but was given the top seeding by the All England Club ahead of top-ranked Rafael Nadal.
Nadal, a two-time Wimbledon champion who is coming off his ninth French Open title, was seeded No. 2 for the grass-court Grand Slam, which starts on Monday.
Murray last year became the first British player to win the Wimbledon men’s title since 1936.
The women’s seedings stuck to the WTA rankings. Five-time champion Williams has the top spot, followed by Li Na, French Open runner-up Simona Halep, Agnieszka Radwanska and Maria Sharapova.
Sharapova, who won her first Grand Slam title at Wimbledon 10 years ago, is coming off her second French Open championship. Williams was upset in the second round there.
Sharapova is considered Williams’ top challenger, despite her No. 5 seeding. They could end up on the same side of the draw.
Seven-time champion Roger Federer has the No. 4 spot, while Australian Open winner Stan Wawrinka moved down two spots from his ranking to the fifth seed.
Tomas Berdych, David Ferrer, Milos Raonic, John Isner and Kei Nishikori round out the top 10.
Among the 32 seeded players, Jerzy Janowicz received the biggest boost, going up nine spots from his No. 24 ranking to No. 15. The big-serving Polish player reached the Wimbledon semifinals last year, losing to Murray in four sets.
Wimbledon takes a player’s grass-court record into account in assigning the men’s seedings.
Petra Kvitova, the 2011 Wimbledon winner, was No. 6, followed by Jelena Jankovic, Victoria Azarenka, Angelique Kerber and Dominika Cibulkova.
Venus Williams, a five-time Wimbledon champion, was seeded No. 30.
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