How Women’s Seeding Will Be Decided at Wimbledon Championships 2021?

Wimbledon Championships is different from the other Grand Slams in many ways. For many years, the Grand Slam had a different seeding system. And now for the 2021 edition, the men’s singles seeding method has come in line with the other Grand Slams. However, Wimbledon has continued with its traditional women’s singles seeding method.

Is men’s singles seeding method different from women’s seeding method at Wimbledon?

For the men’s singles, Wimbledon used to use a certain ‘formula’ to seed the 32 players. This involved ATP points plus points earned for all grass court tournaments in the past 12 months and plus 75 percent points earned for the best grass-court tournament in the 12 months before that.

The above formula received severe criticism from players, and various others associated with the sport. For the 2018 edition famously, Roger Federer was seeded first despite being the World No.2 and not playing the whole of the clay-court season whereas Rafael Nadal was the World No.1 and had won the French Open as well.

What is the seeding rule for Wimbledon Championships 2021?

Now from 2021, the men’s seeding will be decided solely on the rankings. And women’s singles seeding will also be decided by the WTA rankings. However, there is a small stipulation. Along with the rankings, for the women’s seeding, the opinion of the Professional Tennis Committee will also be taken to have a balanced draw.

“Seeding for the Gentlemen’s Singles will be based on world ranking. Seeding for the Ladies’ Singles will be based on world ranking, except where, in the opinion of the Professional Tennis Committee, a change is necessary to produce a balanced draw,” Wimbledon on its website.

Controversy regarding the seeding rule

This system came into severe scrutiny after Serena Williams was given the 25th seed at the 2018 Wimbledon Championships. At that time, Serena was coming back from her pregnancy break and hence had dropped down to 183rd in the rankings. But the confusing and bizarre seeding didn’t go well with many people.

Moreover, many pointed out the gaps in the seeding system after, in the same year, Andy Murray was not seeded despite coming from an injury break and having ranked higher than Serena at 156. Now the men’s seeding formula has been ditched for 2021, however, the women’s seeding still involves a slightly different process.

Read more: When Was the Last Time Wimbledon Championships Was Canceled?