What is the difference between ankings and seedings in tennis?
Go Top The tennis ranking system ranks layers according to their performance in tennis tournaments over a period of time (generally one year). However, each tournament also has its own seeding system. Most tournaments ‘seed’ a certain number of players (16 or 32). This ensures that these players do not play each other in the early phases of the tournament. Under the seeding system, players participating in a tournament can be ranked as per their ability to win the tournament, irrespective of their ranking in the tennis ranking system. This is because different players excel on different playing surfaces. A serve-and-volley player will struggle on a clay court, while a baseliner will not welcome the opportunity of playing on a fast surface like grass or indoor carpetting. As a consequence, a higer-ranked player may be seeded below a player ranked below him for a specific tournament.
