Andy Murray named top Wimbledon seed

Scot aiming to net his third grass court grand slam

Defending champion Andy Murray has been seeded number one at Wimbledon for the first time.

The world No 1, who beat Milos Raonic in 2016 to win the title for the second time, leads a top four of Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.

Wimbledon is the only grand slam tournament where the seedings do not automatically follow the rankings, with greater weight being given to recent results on grass in the men’s event.

Djokovic and Federer are the main beneficiaries, with Djokovic, the champion in 2014 and 2015, seeded second despite having dropped to fourth in the rankings.

Federer is ranked fifth but his ninth title in Halle last week was enough to earn him the number three seeding ahead of world No 2 Nadal, who has struggled on grass in recent years.

It is the first time the ‘big four’ of men’s tennis have been the top four seeds at a slam since Wimbledon 2014, with world No 3 Stan Wawrinka, who has never reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon, seeded fifth.

Raonic is sixth, with Marin Cilic, Dominic Thiem, Kei Nishikori and Alexander Zverev rounding off the top 10.

Grass-court lover Gilles Muller is the big mover, with the Luxembourger ranked 26th but seeded 16th.

The women’s seedings match the rankings and are headed by world No 1 Angelique Kerber, who was beaten in the final by Serena Williams last year.

In the absence of the 23-time grand slam champion as she awaits the birth of her first child, Simona Halep is seeded second, Karolina Pliskova third and Elina Svitolina fourth.

Britain’s Johanna Konta is seeded sixth – the highest for a British woman since Virginia Wade in 1979.

Jamie Murray and his Brazilian partner Bruno Soares are seeded third in the men’s doubles as they chase their first Wimbledon title.

Picture: PA. Andy Murray has been named the number one seed for Wimbledon, which gets under way on Monday.