Wimbledon 2022: Men's Singles top 16 seeds are set, Djokovic & Nadal top the list

The wait is almost over for the third Grand Slam event of the year — the Wimbledon Championships. After a few controversies and debates about ranking points, who will play and who won't play, the men's singles top 16 seeds for the tournament have finally been set.

World No. 3 and six-time Wimbledon winner Novak Djokovic is the top seed while World No. 4 and two-time Wimbledon winner Rafael Nadal is second.

Djokovic has won the last three editions of the grasscourt event and is the favorite to win it again. Meanwhile Nadal has, for the first time in his career, won the first two Majors of the year, and he will be looking to win in London and remain on track for a Calendar Slam.

Next on the list are Casper Ruud, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Carlos Alcaraz, rounding off the top-5 seeds at SW19 this year. However, it still won't be easy for them as the players that follow are just as dangerous.

Felix Auger-Aliassime is sixth and Hubert Hukacz is the seventh seed. Hurkacz defeated World No. 1 Daniil Medvedev 6-1, 6-4 in the Halle Open final on Sunday to clinch his maiden grasscourt title.

Both Auger-Aliassime and Hurkacz have games well suited to grass, and will be dangerous opponents for anyone in the draw.

Next comes 2021 Wimbledon finalist Matteo Berrettini, as the eighth seed. After spending three months off the tour due to a hand injury, the Italian returned to the tour recently and won both the grass events he played - the Stuttgart Open and the Queen's Club Championships.

Cameron Norrie finds himself as the ninth seed, with Jannik Sinner as the tenth. The 11th position will be taken by 2022 Indian Wells winner Taylor Fritz, who precedes Diego Schwartzman.

Schwartzman was recently shown the exit door in the first round at the Queen's Club Championships, by Sam Querrey.

Denis Shapovalov, who has lost five consecutive matches since beating Nadal in Rome, is the 13th seed. Marin Cilic, Reilly Opelka and Pablo Carreno Busta are the 14th, 15th and 16th seeds, respectively.

The competition doesn't end there though; all 16 men will have to be on their toes not just against each other but also against seeds 17 to 32 and against unseeded players. Two-time Wimbledon champion Andy Murray and the in-form Nick Kyrgios, both unseeded, will aim to ruin the party for quite a few players.

Top players who will miss the 2022 Wimbledon Championships

Daniil Medvedev and Roger Federer will not feature at SW19 this year.

Although several fans had their fingers crossed in the hope of seeing Roger Federer play on grass once again, they were heartbroken when Wimbledon released the entry list earlier this month as the Swiss' name was missing. This will be the first time Federer will not be playing at the grasscourt Major since 1998.

Struggling with a knee injury, the 40-year-old has been rehabilitating and training in hopes of making a comeback to the tour. Federer is slated to return to the Laver Cup in September.

World No. 2 Alexander Zverev, meanwhile, has withdrawn due to the unfortunate injury that he sustained in the Roland Garros semifinal against Rafael Nadal. Zverev twisted his right ankle while attempting a running forehand and tore three ligaments in his leg.

Four-time Grand Slam winner Naomi Osaka has also pulled out, due to an Achilles ligament issue.

Due to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the All England Club in April declared that no players from Russia and Belarusia would be allowed to play at Wimbledon this year. As a result, players like Daniil Medvedev, Andrey Rublev, Karen Khachanov, and Aryna Sabalenka will be absent from the third Major event.