Federer, Henin Earn Top Wimbledon Seeds

WIMBLEDON, England (AP) _ Four-time defending champion Roger Federer and top-ranked Justine Henin were seeded No. 1 for Wimbledon on Wednesday. <br/><br/>Rafael Nadal, last year's runner-up, was seeded

Wednesday, June 20th 2007, 11:02 am

By: News On 6

WIMBLEDON, England (AP) _ Four-time defending champion Roger Federer and top-ranked Justine Henin were seeded No. 1 for Wimbledon on Wednesday.

Rafael Nadal, last year's runner-up, was seeded No. 2 ahead of Andy Roddick. Maria Sharapova, who won the 2004 title at 17, is seeded No. 2, followed by Jelena Jankovic. Defending champion Amelie Mauresmo was seeded fourth.

Two-time winner and Australian Open champion Serena Williams is No. 7 at the third Grand Slam tournament of the year, which begins Monday. The draw will be held Friday.

In determining the seedings, Wimbledon took past performances on grass into account. The seedings at other Grand Slams mirror the rankings.

Venus Williams was seeded 24th, seven places above her ranking because of five final appearances in the past seven years. The most recent of her three titles came in 2005, when she became the lowest seeded player to win the women's title at No. 14.

The top 18 women are seeded according to their WTA ranking. Henin, the French Open champion, will attempt to improve upon her losses in the 2001 and 2006 Wimbledon final.

Below the top three men, there were mostly minor movements against the rankings. Fifth-ranked Novak Djokovic was moved up to the No. 4 seeding after winning in Estoril, Miami and Adelaide this year and losing to Nadal in the French Open semifinals.

Eleventh-ranked Tomas Berdych was seeded No. 7, switching places with Tommy Robredo, while Marcos Baghdatis was the biggest beneficiary of the system. The Cypriot player, who lost to Nadal in straight sets in last year's semifinals, was seeded at No. 10, six places above his ATP ranking.

Lleyton Hewitt, the 2002 champion, was No. 16, three spots above his ranking.