World number five Rafael Nadal will be entering the Wimbledon 2013 Championships as the fifth seed as the All England Club has decided to stick with the ATP Rankings as basis for the seedings for the third Grand Slam event of the year.
Nadal will be entering the grasscourt Slam event fresh from winning his eighth French Open title. Since the draw has not been announced or presented yet, speculations are still swirling as to who will be his potential quarterfinal opponent – which could be defending champion Roger Federer, top-ranked Novak Djokovic or even last year’s runner-up Andy Murray.
The seedings were released by the All England Club on Wednesday. The Wimbledon 2013 Championships will begin on June 24, Monday.
Nadal is currently on a hot streak since his comeback in February. He has reached nine finals out of the nine tournaments he participated on, and won seven titles, including high-profile and ranking-rich events in Indian Wells, Madrid, Rome and Roland Garros.
The Spaniard lost in the second round at Wimbledon last year to then 100th-ranked Lukas Rosol of the Czech Republic. Since then, Nadal pulled out of the tournaments for the remainder of the year, including the London Olympics, to recuperate from a nagging knee injury.
The Wimbledon Championship seedings order is determined by use of the ATP Rankings and points are added based on achievements in grasscourt tournament in the past two years. The All England Club had the option to move Nadal to number four ahead of David Ferrer but his compatriot has had impressive grasscourt achievements in the past twelve months, including a title run at the Unicef Open at Rosmalen and a quarterfinal finish at Wimbledon 2012.
