Nadal, Federer seeded 1st and 2nd for Australian Open
Top-ranked Rafael Nadal and defending champion Roger Federer have been seeded first and second for the Australian Open, meaning they can only play each other at Melbourne Park this month if they set up a rematch of last year’s final.
Federer was coming off an extended injury break and was seeded 17th at last year’s Australian Open when he beat Nadal, who was seeded ninth, in five sets in the final. Grigor Dimitrov, a semifinalist here last year, is seeded third and six-time champion Novak Djokovic — coming back from a six-month injury layoff — is 14th.
The seedings for the season’s first major tournament reflected the rankings in the both singles tournaments. The draw was scheduled for later Thursday.
Serena Williams decided not to defend her Australian title, saying that just four months after having her first child that her tennis hadn’t yet returned to a level where she felt could win a Grand Slam title.
Two-time French Open finalist Simona Halep, yet to win a major, is seeded No. 1 in the women’s draw, with Caroline Wozniacki at No. 2 and Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza at No. 3.
Venus Williams, who lost the Australian final to her younger sister Serena last year, is seeded fifth. French Open winner Jelena Ostapenko is seeded No. 7 and U.S. Open winner Sloane Stephens is No. 13.
Australian Open seedings list
Men 1. Rafael Nadal 2. Roger Federer 3. Grigor Dimitrov 4. Alexander Zverev 5. Dominic Thiem 6. Marin Cilic 7. David Goffin 8. Jack Sock 9. Stan Wawrinka 10. Pablo Carreno Busta 11. Kevin Anderson 12. Juan Martin del Potro 13. Sam Querrey 14. Novak Djokovic 15. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 16. John Isner 17. Nick Kyrgios 18. Lucas Pouille 19. Tomas Berdych 20. Roberto Bautista Agut 21. Albert Ramos-Vinolas 22. Milos Raonic 23. Gilles Muller 24. Diego Schwartzman 25. Fabio Fognini 26. Adrian Mannarino 27. Philipp Kohlschreiber 28. Damir Dzumhur 29. Richard Gasquet 30. Andrey Rublev 31. Pablo Cuevas 32. Mischa Zverev
1. Simona Halep 2. Caroline Wozniacki 3. Garbine Muguruza 4. Elina Svitolina 5. Venus Williams 6. Karolina Pliskova 7. Jelena Ostapenko 8. Caroline Garcia 9. Johanna Konta 10. CoCo Vandeweghe 11. Kristina Mladenovic 12. Julia Goerges 13. Sloane Stephens 14. Anastasija Sevastova 15. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 16. Elena Vesnina 17. Madison Keys 18. Ashleigh Barty 19. Magdalena Rybarikova 20. Barbora Strycova 21. Angelique Kerber 22. Daria Kasatkina 23. Daria Gavrilova 24. Dominika Cibulkova 25. Peng Shuai 26. Agnieszka Radwanska 27. Petra Kvitova 28. Mirjana Lucic-Baroni 29. Lucie Safarova 30. Kiki Bertens 31. Ekaterina Makarova 32. Anett Kontaveit