Federer is No. 1 seed for Wimbledon

LONDON, June 16 (UPI) -- Defending champion Roger Federer was installed as the No. 1 seed for the 2010 Wimbledon Championships, despite a No. 2 world ranking.

Wimbledon officials factor in recent grass-court results in addition to ATP rankings when determining their list of seeds, a consideration that gave Federer the No. 1 seeding over world No. 1 Rafael Nadal, who was seeded second.

Wimbledon referee Andrew Jarrett said the switch from ranking to seeding shouldn't make a difference as to a potential 1-2 final, since Federer and Nadal will be in separate halves of the draw, which will be released Friday.

Federer has won six of the last seven Wimbledon titles, losing in 2008 to Nadal in five sets and winning last year in an epic 16-14 fifth set over Andy Roddick.

Novak Djokovic was installed as the No. 3 seed and Andy Murray is fourth, reflected their world rankings. But Roddick, ranked seventh, was seeded fifth with Robin Soderling at No. 6. Nikolay Davydenko, ranked No. 5, is the seventh seed and Fernando Verdasco is seeded eighth.

The only Top 10 men's player not in the Wimbledon field is world No. 8 Juan Martin del Potro, whose recent wrist surgery may even preclude his defending his U.S. Open title.