Djokovic, Nadal 1-2 at Wimbledon, could meet in final
This time, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal will be on opposite sides of the draw.
The seedings for Wimbledon were announced Tuesday, with Djokovic and Nadal being Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, in the men’s draw because of the absence of Daniil Medvedev and Alexander Zverev.
The top-ranked Medvedev cannot take part as a result of the All England Club’s decision to not allow players from Russia or Belarus to enter the event in 2022 over the invasion of Ukraine. Medvedev is Russian.
The No. 2-ranked Zverev is out because of an ankle injury.
That means Djokovic and Nadal have been bumped up to being the top two seeded players and cannot now meet until the final. That wasn’t the case at the French Open last month, when Nadal
beat Djokovic in the quarterfinals en route to winning a men’s-record 22nd Grand Slam title.
The draw is Friday and the tournament begins Monday.
Since 2021, the seedings for both the men’s and women’s singles have been based on the world rankings.
Top-ranked Iga Swiatek of Poland will be the No.1-seeded women’s player at Wimbledon.
ELSEWHERE
Serena Williams won the first match of her comeback, partnering with Ons Jabeur to defeat
Sara Sorribes Tormo and Marie Bouzkova in the first round of the women’s doubles on Tuesday in the Wimbledon warmup event at Eastbourne, England. Williams and Jabeur recovered from losing the first set 6-2 to win the second 6-3 and then the match tiebreaker 13-11 on their third match point.
“I caught some fire behind me,” the 40-yearold Williams said. “I needed that. It was good.”
The win means Williams
will have at least one more competitive match before playing singles at Wimbledon as a wild-card entry. Williams hasn’t played competitively since retiring from her first-round match at last year’s Wimbledon.
Angelique Kerber and Simona Halep were among the first-round winners at the Bad Homburg Open as Sabine Lisicki won a main-draw WTA Tour match for the first time since 2018 after long injury setbacks.