Should clay courters have the same rankings at Wimbledon?

» JoelH - Wimbledon rankings system

Recently clay courters such as Gustavo Kuerten
have announced they will boycott Wimbledon as a result of its seeding them lower than their rankings. Is this justified? Or should clay courters be given the protection of a higher seeding which their rankings have earnt them?

-- posted by JoelH

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» mcecilio - Re: Wimbledon rankings system

I think claycourters should not be given the protection of a seeding due to their entry rankings at Wimbledon. Nor do I think grasscourters should be given the same protection at Roland Garros. Seedings are used to protect the likely challengers from meeting in the early rounds. Is it really fair to say that someone like Marat Safin, who does not have a good record on grasscourts at all, should be given the #1 seeding over proven talents on the surface such as Agassi or Sampras. This would have been the case had the seeding committee at Wimbledon gone by the entry rankings.

I think what the committee have tried to do in establishing an objective formula which uses entry rankings and past performance on grasscourts is a fantastic idea. My only gripe is that the committee at Roland Garros does not use a similar system.

I am therefore not in agreement with the fact that some claycourters have chosen to withdraw because of their lower seedings at Wimbledon. A player is there to play tennis and to play who he has drawn and to try to win, regardless of whether he is the #5 seed or the #11 seed or unseeded. It is up to that player to prove that he can meet or go beyond his designated seeding, and if he cannot do that, then there really is no point in that player being a seed, or as high a seed, at all.

-- posted by mcecilio

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