Federer seeded No. 2, Nadal No. 3 at Wimbledon; Serena 11th

Associated PressJun 26, 2019, 1:46 PM EDT

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WIMBLEDON, England — Eight-time champion Roger Federer was seeded No. 2 for Wimbledon, one spot ahead of Rafael Nadal, reversing their positions in the ATP rankings and creating a debate about whether the All England Club’s seeding system should be changed.

Top-ranked Novak Djokovic, the defending champion, was seeded No. 1 on Wednesday at the grass-court Grand Slam tournament, where recent results on the surface are used to help determine seedings. The other majors do not do that.

Nadal told a Spanish TV station that he doesn’t think it makes sense that Wimbledon is the only tournament that uses its own seeding system. Former U.S. Davis Cup captain Patrick McEnroe and former player and coach Brad Gilbert tweeted that they thought Nadal should have been seeded No. 2.

The ATP’s top 32 men are seeded at Wimbledon, but the order is based on a formula that gives players additional credit for ranking points earned at tournaments played on grass over the preceding two years. That allowed Federer, who won his 10th title at Halle, Germany, last week, to jump ahead of Nadal, who potentially could have to beat both Djokovic and Federer to win what would be his third championship at Wimbledon.

Nadal is coming off his record 12th title at the French Open, which is played on clay, and he did not enter any sort of tuneup event on grass this year. He rarely does.

While Nadal did reach the Wimbledon final in five consecutive appearances in the tournament from 2006-11, he had not been so successful of late until a run to the semifinals last year. From 2012-17, Nadal never made it past the fourth round at the All England Club, including one exit in the first round and a pair in the second.

There were other examples of shifts from rankings to seedings. Last year’s runner-up, Kevin Anderson, was seeded No. 4, even though he is ranked only No. 8 this week; 2018 semifinalist John Isner is seeded No. 9, ranked No. 12; 2017 runner-up Marin Cilic is seeded No. 13, ranked No. 18.

This year’s women’s seedings at the All England Club strictly follow the WTA rankings, so French Open champion Ash Barty is at No. 1.

Naomi Osaka is No. 2, followed by Karolina Pliskova.

Seven-time Wimbledon champion Serena Williams is seeded 11th, the same place she holds in this week’s rankings. A year ago, early in her return to the tour after having a baby, Williams was ranked just 183rd but seeded 25th.

She wound up reaching the final before losing to champion Angelique Kerber.

The draw is Friday; play begins Monday.

At French Open, Francisco Cerundolo is mad at chair umpire over Holger Rune’s double-bounce

Associated PressJun 5, 2023, 8:49 PM EDT

Susan Mullane-USA TODAY Sports

PARIS – Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina was devastated about losing his French Open fourth-round match to Holger Rune of Denmark in a fifth-set tiebreaker Monday. He also was mad at chair umpire Kader Nouni for missing a double-bounce of the ball on a point that was awarded to Rune early in his 7-6 (3), 3-6, 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (10-7) victory.

They were tied at a set apiece and on serve at 2-1 for the No. 6-seeded Rune early in the third at Court Suzanne Lenglen when the point of contention happened. Cerundolo, who was serving at deuce, hit a forehand that skidded low at the baseline and quickly bounced a second time – which normally would have meant that the point was his.

But Rune went ahead and got his racket on the ball, sending it back over the net. At about the same time, No. 23 seed Cerundolo was saying “sorry” to apologize for the odd way his forehand made the ball skim across the clay. Nouni was not immediately aware of the double-bounce, thought the ball was still in play and called Cerundolo for hindrance for talking during a point. That meant Rune got the point, and when he won the next one, too, he had a service break.

“It was unbelievable, because it was a clear double-bounce. I was mad at the umpire because he has to see it,” Cerundolo said. “It’s his fault.”

In tennis, electronic line-calling is used at many tournaments to make line calls, but replays are not used to check things like double-bounces or whether a point should be lost because a player touches the net, which is not allowed.

And while Cerundolo put the onus on the official, he also thought Rune could have ceded the point because of the double-bounce.

“For sure, I wish he would have done that, because it was a big moment,” Cerundolo said.

Rune, who moved into a matchup against No. 4 Casper Ruud in the quarterfinals, said he saw a replay after the following point, and “saw it was a double bounce. But the point already happened, and he called the score. So I felt sorry.”

But, Rune added: “This is tennis. This is sports. Some umpires, they make mistakes. Some for me; some for him. That’s life.”

Gael Monfils withdraws from French Open with wrist injury

Associated PressJun 1, 2023, 11:34 AM EDT

Susan Mullane-USA TODAY Sports

PARIS — A thrilling five-set victory took a toll on Gael Monfils, whose withdrawal from the French Open handed No. 6 Holger Rune a walkover to the third round.

The 36-year-old Frenchman said he has a strained left wrist and can’t continue.

He battled Sebastian Baez for nearly four hours on Court Philippe Chatrier before beating the Argentine 3-6, 6-3, 7-5, 1-6, 7-5 in a first-round match that ended at 12:18 a.m. local time.

The victory was Monfils’ first at tour level this year, as the veteran was coming back from heel surgery.

“Actually, physically, I’m quite fine. But I had the problem with my wrist that I cannot solve,” he said. “The doctor say was not good to play with that type of injury. Yesterday was actually very risky, and then today definitely say I should stop.”

Monfils reached the semifinals at the French Open in 2008 and made it to the quarterfinals on three other occasions.