Grass Record Advances Henman Seeding

British No1 Tim Henman has been seeded sixth for Wimbledon, which gets under way on Monday.

The 30-year-old is ranked ninth in the world but has been moved up thanks to his record of four semi-finals at the All England Club.

Defending champion Roger Federer is the top seed with Andy Roddick - the man he defeated in last year's final - seeded second ahead of former champion Lleyton Hewitt.

Henman is ranked ninth in the world but moves ahead of Argentina's Guillermo Canas and Russian Nikolay Davydenko - who knocked him out of the Australian Open in January - due to his better grass court pedigree. Andre Agassi's withdrawal through injury also lifts Henman, a beaten quarter-finalist last year, another place in the list.

There is no place among the 32 seeds for Greg Rusedski however. The British No2 is ranked 39th in the world and needed to rely on several players withdrawing to be seeded.

French Open champion Rafael Nadal is seeded fourth while Australian Open champion Marat Safin, narrowly beaten by Federer in the Halle final on Sunday, is fifth despite his stated dislike of the surface. Safin is also nursing a knee injury but hopes to be fit to play at the All England Club.

In the women's singles, former winner Lindsay Davenport is the top seed ahead of defending champion Maria Sharapova.

The only change in the top 10 has been caused by Alicia Molik's withdrawal today through injury.

That means French Open champion Justine Henin-Hardenne is only seventh seed with the out-of-form former champion Venus Williams a lowly 14th.

Belgium's Kim Clijsters is ranked 15th as she continues her comeback from a long-term injury while there are seven Russian players among the top 13 seeds.