Evert, Gilbert urge high seeding for Williamses

ESPN analysts Brad Gilbert and Chris Evert urge the All England Club to seed the Williams sisters substantially higher than their rankings. Five-time Wimbledon champ Venus Williams is currently ranked No. 33 and four-time Wimbledon titlist Serena Williams is No. 26. Both returned to action at Eastbourne this week after long stints off the tour due to illness and injury.

"I think it's got to be a given that they're both seeded in the Top 16," Evert said on a conference call. ?Venus has the best record of anybody in the whole draw as far as winning Wimbledon. I would even say the Top 10. And these other women have done nothing at Wimbledon, really, except for [Maria] Sharapova. You'd hope they understand. My heavens, these two women have dominated Wimbledon the last ten years. So it would be the right thing to do for the All England Club to do that."

While the All England Club follows the WTA rankings much more closely than they do the men?s in its seeding of players, the club does leave itself the option of bumping up the women.

"I would think you could put them at like [No.] 7 and [No.] 8 or [No.] 6 and [No.] 7," Gilbert said. "I guess it would be historical for the club to do it, but it adds intrigue. One lady that hasn't played in five months and one that hasn't played in 11-and-a-half. I guess some of the other ladies would be pretty bummed that they were being passed over. But last I checked they've won nine of the last 11 Wimbledon?s."

Source: http://feeds.tennis.com/~r/tenniscom-news/~3/_KuByDWK7Lw/

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