Rusedski delays his decision

A DECISION on whether Greg Rusedski will play at this year's Wimbledon is not expected until the weekend.

The British No 1 is recovering from a torn ligament in his left ankle after falling in a third-round match at the Stella Artois Championship at Queen's last Friday.

Rusedski had been expected to stay with coach Tony Pickard this week and receive treatment at the National Tennis Centre. However, he has chosen to remain in London in the care of his regular physiotherapist Reza Danesh-mand. "Greg's been having treatment since Friday night in London but it's still too early to say anything," says Pickard. "The physio told Greg that the next 48 hours should tell us one way or the other whether he could be fit for Wimbledon. We'll then listen to what he says and make a decision based on that." Pickard said there was no point in his charge "playing the hero and rushing back for Wimbledon unless the ankle is 100 per cent fit." Rusedski has until 15 minutes before his first-round match to withdraw from the tournament. He can also request a late start on Tuesday to give himself as much chance as possible of making a recovery. However, such is the explosive nature of his game, that even if he is fit enough to begin the tournament, he may struggle to last the fortnight. As expected, defending champion Pete Sampras was seeded No. 1 among the men, while defending champion Martina Hingis was No 1 among the women. The Wimbledon seeding committee stayed with the men's rankings for the first seven players, with Sampras followed by Marcelo Rios, Petr Korda, Rusedski, Carlos Moya, Patrick Rafter and Yevgeny Kafelnikov. But Cedric Pioline, last year's losing finalist, was bumped up two places to No 8, while 1996 champion Richard Krajicek moved up three places to No 9. Alex Corretja, a Spanish clay-court expert who lost to Moya in the French Open final, was seeded No 10 - two places below his world ranking. Andre Agassi, who tumbled out of the top 100 earlier this year, has shot back up the rankings in recent months and was rewarded with the No 13 seeding. Goran Ivanisevic, twice a beaten finalist who has dropped to No 24, was seeded at No 14. Michael Chang was unseeded despite his world No 14 ranking. Britain's No 2 Tim Henman, ranked No 17, was seeded No 12. On the women's side, Wimbledon stayed with the rankings except in the case of Graf, who underwent knee surgery a year ago.

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