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THE
SCOOP, ROLAND GARROS DAY 10
Wimbledon seedings on hold to French winners are crowned
By
Matthew Cronin
tennisreporters.net
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Susan
Mullane
Camerawork USA, Inc.
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The
All England Club is waiting until Roland Garros is over to announce
what it will do with its controversial seedings procedure, but sources
say the venerable institution will not divert entirely from the
ATP rankings, as it has done in the past. No, Guga Kuerten will
not be the No. 1 seed, but nor will No. 46 Greg Rusedski be placed
in the top five. The club doesn't want the Spanish anarchists – Alex
Corretja, Albert Costa and Juan Carlos Ferrero – to
cause a major stink and not show up. Nor do they want Guga to fly
back to Brazil before the tournament begins, like he has threatened
to do.
The
smart tactic is to take the top 16 guys and shuffle them around
a bit – say
putting Sampras at No. 1, Agassi No. 2, Guga No. 3, Ferrero at
No. 4, Rafter No. 5, Corretja at No. 6 and "Our Timmy" at No.
7. The club may not go in that order, but you can bet that it
will go out of its way no to offend the Spanish Armada, who are
a welcome addition to any event, even if only one of them – the
quick-handed Ferrero – is
a long shot to win the title. You can also bet your life that
they won't go strictly by the rankings.
WTA
RELATIONS MAKE FEMALE SEEDINGS SMOOTHER
And
what of the women? Who do they seed first? Martina, who as of
this writing hasn't one in Slam in eight tries? Venus, who looked
awful in Paris and is rusty? Jennifer, who has never played well
on grass? Maybe the club should ask Jana Novotna to come out of
retirement and seed her No. 1 – she
is playing World TeamTennis for the Sacramento Capitals this summer.
The club will likely go almost strictly off the WTA rankings,
because it enjoys a much better relationship with cordial women's
tour than it does with bold ATP Tour.
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