Britain’s Andy Murray (left) returns a ball as coach Ivan Lendl looks on during a practice session on the second day of the Aegon Championships tennis tournament at the Queen’s Club in west London, yesterday. Murray missed the French Open tournament recently, after suffering a back injury. However, the US Open champion will return to action at Queen’s Club today in the second round.
LONDON: Andy Murray says Rafael Nadal’s expected seeding at Wimbledon is “tough” on the French Open champion.
Nadal, 27, is set to be seeded fifth after being injured for most of the last year, and because he was knocked out in the second round in 2012.
“Rafa will be seeded five, which is tough because he is better than that,” Murray told BBC Sport. “It is the way our ranking system works.”
Men’s seedings at Wimbledon are based on ranking and performance on grass.
Nadal, who clinched his eighth French Open title on Sunday, with victory over compatriot David Ferrer will learn his fate for the upcoming Grand Slam when the seedings are announced today.
Former world number one Nadal has won 43 out of 45 matches after returning to action following a seven-month lay-off, in which he missed the US Open and the Australian Open because of a serious knee injury.
The Spaniard will, however, fall foul of the seeding system at Wimbledon which uses the current Association of Tennis Professionals ranking and a formula with weighting given to grass performance in the previous two years.
As Nadal - currently fifth in the ATP list - suffered a shock defeat to Czech Republic’s Lukas Rosol in the early stages last June, he will probably not be placed in the top-four.
This could mean bad news, as he could face Novak Djokovic, Murray or Roger Federer as early as the quarter-finals.
The world number two said the tennis body should follow the approach used in golf when analysing the situation.
Murray said: “That is unfortunately the way the ranking system works in tennis. It is a one-year ranking, whereas in something like golf it is a two-year ranking.
“Even if one of the best players gets injured, they can still maintain their ranking. In tennis, if you miss four or five months, it is almost impossible to maintain your ranking.”
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