| | Associated Press
WIMBLEDON, England -- Six-time winner Pete Sampras was
seeded No. 1 at Wimbledon on Monday, and Martina Hingis was the
top-seeded woman.
Andre Agassi was seeded second in the men's draw, while five
grass court specialists -- Tim Henman, Mark Philippoussis, Richard
Krajicek, Pat Rafter and Greg Rusedski -- gained higher than usual
ratings among the top 16 seeded players.
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Top seeds, top odds
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LONDON -- Pete Sampras is the top men's singles seed at Wimbledon, and also the bookies' favorite to retain his Wimbledon title at odds of 5-4.
William Hill put Sampras ahead of No. 2 seed Andre Agassi (11-2) and seventh-seeded Australian teenager Lleyton Hewitt (13-2). England's Tim Henman, seeded eight, is 12-1.
On the women's side, Martina Hingis is the 13-8 favorite to win. No. 2 seed Lindsay Davenport, the defending Wimbledon champion, is 9-4, followed by fifth-seeded Venus Williams (6-1) and No. 6 seed Monica Seles (11-1).
-- Reuters |
On the women's side, defending champion Lindsay Davenport was
seeded No. 2 in the two-week tournament that opens next Monday. The
remaining 14 seeded players went according to the WTA Tour
rankings.
French Open winner Mary Pierce was third and former Wimbledon
champion and French Open runner-up Conchita Martinez was fourth.
Among the unseeded women was Anna Kournikova, who reached the
fourth round of Wimbledon a year ago and was a semifinalist in '97.
Unlike the other three Grand Slams, which strictly follow the
ATP and WTA Tour rankings, Wimbledon takes into account a player's
record on grass. The impact was felt in the men's side.
Britain's Henman, ranked No. 14 in the ATP rankings, was seeded
eighth; Philippoussis of Australia is ranked 17th but seeded 10th;
'96 Wimbledon champion Krajicek is ranked 27th but seeded 12th; and
Rusedski is ranked 21st but seeded 14th.
Sampras earned his seventh No. 1 seed at Wimbledon. He is 46-1
at the last seven Wimbledons and 31-1 on Centre Court, where he
will begin defense of his title next Monday.
Sampras dropped only two sets in winning last year. His only
loss in the seven-year stretch came to Krajicek in the '96
quarterfinals.
Sampras lost 6-4, 6-4 to Australia's Lleyton Hewitt in the final
of the Queen's Club tournament Sunday and could face a hard test
defending his title this year.
Hewitt is seeded No. 7, the same as his ranking.
For Agassi, the No. 2 seeding is his highest at Wimbledon since
he was seeded No. 1 in 1995. Agassi, who won Wimbledon in 1992,
retired from Queen's last week after bruising his lower back in a
fall. He is expected to be ready for Wimbledon.
To give the five grass-court specialists a seeded spot,
Wimbledon's seeding committee dropped four players ranked in the
top 16 by the ATP -- Spanish clay-courters Alex Corretja, Juan
Carlos Ferrero and Albert Costa, and Younes El Aynaoui of Morocco.
Among the unseeded men were Goran Ivanisevic and Todd Martin.
Ivanisevic, a three-time Wimbledon runner-up, was unseeded for the
first time since 1990.
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