Andy Murray seeded fourth for Wimbledon

Andy Murray has been handed the fourth seeding for Wimbledon as expected after the All England Club elected to adhere to the top-five world rankings today.

Defending champion Rafael Nadal is therefore the top seed for the men's draw ahead of Novak Djokovic, with six-time winner Roger Federer third on the list.

Returning women's champion Serena Williams is the eighth seed despite her world ranking dropping to 26 following her long lay-off due to injury and illness.

World number one Caroline Wozniacki is the women's top seed.

Murray's seeding ensures he will not play any of the top four before the semi-finals as he aims to claim his breakthrough grand slam success on home turf.

Nadal's top billing, meanwhile, has meant that Federer will not be the top seed for the first time since his maiden Wimbledon success in 2003.

Nadal had been the first seed in 2009, but he was forced to withdraw on the eve of the tournament due to injury, while last year the All England Club named Federer as top seed despite being ranked behind Nadal.

Organisers have only made subtle changes from the world rankings this time around with last year's beaten finalist Tomas Berdych the sixth seed, up one place from his world mark, while Andy Roddick is two places higher at eighth.

In the women's draw, Serena Williams' quest for a hat-trick of titles has been aided by a seeding that means she will not meet a top-eight player until the quarter-finals.

Williams won last year's title by beating Vera Zvonareva, the third seed this year, but only returned for the first time at Eastbourne yesterday after injury and illness kept her away from the court.

The 29-year-old's impressive record on the grass courts SW19 ensure she will still remain as one of the favourites, especially with Wozniacki still awaiting her first grand slam success.

Veteran Kim Clijsters will aim for her first Wimbledon crown from the third seeding ahead of French Open champion Li Na, Victoria Azarenka and 2004 champion Maria Sharapova.

Men's seedings: 1 Rafael Nadal, 2 Novak Djokovic, 3 Roger Federer, 4 Andy Murray, 5 R Soderling, 6 Tomas Berdych, 7 David Ferrer, 8 Andy Roddick, 9 Gael Monfils, 10 Mardy Fish, 11 Jurgen Melzer, 12 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, 13 Viktor Troicki, 14 Stanislas Wawrinka, 15 Gilles Simon, 16 Nicolas Almagro, 17 Richard Gasquet, 18 Mikhail Youzhny, 19 Michael Llodra, 20 Florian Mayer, 21 Fernando Verdasco, 22 Alexandr Dolgoplov, 23 Janko Tipsarevic, 24 Juan Martin Del Potro, 25 Juan Ignacio Chela, 26 Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, 27 Marin Cilic, 28 David Nalbandian, 29 Nikolay Davydenko, 30 Thomaz Bellucci, 31 Milos Raonic, 32 Marcos Baghdatis.

Women's seedings: 1 Caroline Wozniacki, 2 Kim Clijsters, 3 Vera Zvonareva, 4 Na Li, 5 Victoria Azarenka, 6 Maria Sharapova, 7 Francesca Schiavone, 8 Serena Williams, 9 Petra Kvitova, 10 Marion Bartoli, 11 Samantha Stosur, 12 Andrea Petkovic, 13 Svetlana Kuznetsova, 14 Agnieszka Radwanska, 15 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, 16 Jelena Jankovic, 17 Julia Goerges, 18 Kaia Kanepi, 19 Ana Ivanovic, 20 Yanina Wickmayer, 21 Shuai Peng, 22 Flavia Pennetta, 23 Shahar Peer, 24 Venus Williams, 25 Dominika Cibulkova, 26 Daniela Hantuchova, 27 Maria Kirilenko, 28 Jarmila Gajdosova, 29 Ekaterina Makarova, 30 Roberta Vinci, 31 Bethanie Mattek-Sands, 32 Lucie Safarova.