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No-win situation Wimbledon organizers face thorny seed assignments
LONDON (AP) -- With the chance that even slight tinkering could spark a boycott, Wimbledon officials meet Monday to decide how to assign more seedings than ever before and still satisfy the world's top players. They will sit down to examine the new tennis rankings and debate how much they should shuffle them to reflect the ability of players on fast grass courts. Even with 32 seeded spots instead of the traditional 16, straying too far from the rankings likely will produce a boycott by clay-court specialists, who insist they face bias at the All England Club and want the men's seeds to adhere to world rankings as they do in the women's draw. French Open runner up Alex Corretja already has threatened to pull out if the Wimbledon organizers favor the grass court stars, while fellow Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero said doubling the number of seedings was a "backward step." All four Grand Slam tournaments announced last week that they were doubling the number of seeded players to 32, with the order determined by a formula that assesses past performance on each event's playing surface. The new system ensures that the top 32 players in the ATP and WTA rankings will be seeded. In the past, a committee at Wimbledon adjusted seedings subjectively based on past performances on grass. Organizers of the only grass court Grand Slam event are adamant they will maintain their support of the players who do well on their fast courts, most notably Pete Sampras. The American, chasing his fifth title in a row and eighth overall, is ranked fourth by the ATP and hasn't won since Wimbledon a year ago, but he could wind up higher under Wimbledon's formula that can alter seedings by five places or more, Sampras was eliminated by Lleyton Hewitt in the semifinal of the Stella Artois grass court championship at Queen's Club on Sunday, and that result might affect his ranking. He also was a second-round loser on the clay courts at the French Open last month. Top-ranked Gustavo Kuerten, who just won his third French Open title, pulled out of Wimbledon last week, citing a recurring groin injury. That gives the Wimbledon committee the option of giving the top seed to Sampras, who is strongly favored to win the title again. Some of his biggest rivals already are out. Richard Krajicek, the 1996 champion, and Mark Philippoussis, a three-time quarterfinalist, withdrew with injuries. Krajicek is the only player to beat Sampras at Wimbledon since 1992, while Philippoussis was leading the American by a set in the quarterfinals two years ago before coming up injured. If Sampras doesn't get the top seed, it likely will go to Andre Agassi or Marat Safin, depending on how the rankings come out on Monday. Safin was top seeded ahead of Sampras at Queen's Club, where he was especially outspoken about the decision to double the number of seedings to 32 and Wimbledon's tradition of favoring the grass-court players. "If you're not good enough at the time, you should be seeded 16 or even not seeded," the 21-year-old Russian said. "Come on. Why should I be seeded one if I am 20? Because I won the U.S. Open. But, after that, I couldn't win one match for five months? "I think it will not work. Players should be seeded the way they are in the ranking. I'm three, and I'm happy with three. It's going to be a headache for everybody. No, it's not going to work."
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