Surface Seeding
As the French Open nears the end of the first week and Wimbledon looms on the horizon, the question of special seeding for certain surfaces, e.g. clay and grass, is a topic again. There were some rumblings at the beginning of Roland Garros when third-seeded Andy Roddick lost in the first round to Russian, Igor Andreev, who is a threat on any surface. Roland Garros followed the current rankings for its seedings and there were
actually very few upsets in the first week of the 2007 French Open. This would seem to indicate the versatility of the current crop of top players and negate the need for surface-based seedings at Roland Garros. However, Wimbledon does present a slightly different scenario. Tennis players only slide across the grass lawns for one month out of the entire year in contrast to hard and clay which are played on several months of the year depending on a player's tournament choices. In addition, certain players have had very strong records historically on the grass courts because of their strong serves. Therefore, there does seem to be merit for the special seeding choices by the Wimbledon committee.
|
