The four tennis Grand Slam tournaments are to double the number of seeds from 16 to 32 to ward off a player boycott of Wimbledon, it was announced today.
The Grand Slam Committee - representing Wimbledon and the US, French and Australian Opens - saidthe 32 seeds will be based entirely on the top 32 in the men's ATP Entry System rankings and on the women's WTA tour rankings.
But, in a concession to the different surfaces involved, each tournament will be able to rearrange the rankings according to players' abilities.
The issue of seeding came to the fore last year when the Wimbledon committee drew up their own seeding list for the prime grass court event that did not match the official rankings.
That provoked several clay-court players to withdraw in protest and a similar action was expected this year.
The main absentees last year were top Spanish players Alex Corretja and Albert Costa. Corretja said during last week's French Open that he would take a decision on his participation this year after the Grand Slam Committee made its ruling.
Newly crowned French Open champion Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil said he sympathised with the Spaniards but said the main reason he had decided not to play in London was that he wanted to fully recover from a niggling groin injury.