What Andy Murray needs to do to secure a seeding at Wimbledon

Wimbledon
Andy Murray delighted

Andy Murray has made no secret that he is eyeing up a seeding at Wimbledon in July and he has a big chance to achieve that goal despite opting to skip the French Open.

The two-time former Wimbledon champion played more clay court tennis than he initially expected a few weeks ago, with his win in the ATP Challenger event at Aix-en-Provence a highlight of the Scot’s year.

Yet he decided to step away from an appearance at Roland Garros, preferring to start preparing for the grass court season early.

This plan follows a similar narrative from a year ago when he also pulled out of the French Open and focused on playing on his favoured grass courts.

That move reaped early rewards as he made it through to the semi-finals of the ATP Challenger event at Surbiton in London and then made it through to the final of the ATP 250 event in Stuttgart, losing to Matteo Berrettini in the championship match.

That proved to be a high point of Murray’s grass court campaign, as he was forced to pull out of the cinch Championships at the Queen’s Club due to an injury sustained during his match against Berrettini in Germany.

With Murray already a confirmed entrant for this year’s tournament at Queen’s, where he is a five-time former champion, that event now holds the key to Murray’s hopes of a seeding for Wimbledon.

Big ranking points are up for grabs at the ATP 500 event at the Queen’s Club and it means that Murray could make a climb up the rankings if he does well at an event where he has enjoyed so much success.

Murray is currently in the mid-60s in the provision ATP rankings and needs to get into the top 32 to secure a seeding for Wimbledon.

With players likely to pull out of the grass court major in London, Murray may only need to rise 20 places in the ATP rankings to be seeded for Wimbledon, but he will need good form on grass to reach that ambitious target.

He has points to defend when he starts his grass court campaign for 2023 at the Subtion Challenger event and also if he plays in Stuttgart again.

Then he has a big chance to gain ranking points at Queen’s Club before the Wimbledon seedings are decided.

Being seeded at Wimbledon would give Murray a chance to have a favourable draw a Wimbledon and he remains convinced he can shine at the Grand Slam he won in 2013 and 2016.

“I have ambitions of competing for Wimbledon titles and that sort of stuff and, I know that sitting here today that probably doesn’t sound realistic, but I do believe that that’s a possibility,” said Murray last month, as he confirmed his ambitions for the third Grand Slam event of 2023 are high.

If Murray fails in his mission to shine at Wimbledon in the year that will mark the 10th anniversary of his historic first win at the All England Club, more questions will be raised about his future in the sport.

Yet for now, this relentless winner still believes he has another chance to reach out for glory.

READ MORE: Andy Murray’s Wimbledon chances assessed – ‘Winning it is probably a step too far’

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