By Richard Pagliaro | Wednesday, June 28, 2017
World No. 1 Andy Murray heads the Wimbledon men's seeds.
Photo credit: Stephen White/CameraSport
World No. 5 Roger Federer is back in the Big 4 seedings.
Wimbledon issued its seedings today with the Big 4 comprising the four highest seeds for The Championships.
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World No. 1 Andy Murray tops the men’s seedings followed by three-time champion Novak Djokovic, with Federer seeded third ahead of Rafael Nadal, who is seeded fourth.
Oddsmakers have staked the Big 4, who have combined to capture 14 consecutive Wimbledon titles, as the top four favorites to win The Championships.
World No. 3 Stan Wawrinka, who has yet to surpass the Wimbledon quarterfinals in 12 career appearances at SW19, was dropped down to the No. 5 seed followed by 2016 finalist Milos Raonic.
Queen’s Club finalist Marin Cilic is seeded No. 7, with No. 8-seeded Dominic Thiem, Kei Nishikori and Rome champion Alexander Zverev rounding out the Top 10.
In a conference call with the media to promote ESPN’s Wimbledon coverage, ESPN analyst Brad Gilbert said seven-time champion Federer, who won his last Wimbledon title five years ago, is the favorite.
“Federer, at 35, almost 36, if you had to tell me who the favorite is, you know, without seeing the draw, I would say him,” Gilbert said. “The fact he's in this position where he's at, only lost twice this year, seems to know how to listen to himself with rest and peaking at the right times. I think it all looks good at the moment for Roger.”
US Open champion Wawrinka, who recently added Paul Annacone, who previously coached Roger Federer, Pete Sampras and Tim Henman, to his coaching team, can complete the career Grand Slam winning Wimbledon.
Despite the 2015 Roland Garros champions struggles at SW19, Hall of Famer Chrissie Evert tabs Wawrinka as a dark horse to take the title.
“My outside danger players would be Stan,” Evert told the media in an ESPN conference call. “He has Paul Annacone now in his corner. It's not a lot of time to sort of tweak your game that much. But Stan's got to be more aggressive. If he gets into an aggressive frame of mind, there's a possibility. He's an outsider.
“(Nick) Kyrgios is always dangerous, but mentally I don't know if he can put together a lot of wins in a row yet, seven. (Milos) Raonic is a question mark. (Alexander) Zverev. I mean, you got some dangerous players that could upset one of those top four. I just don't know if they can do it consistently. It's like a brick wall, I think, to get through those four players.”