Federer Gets Wimbledon No. 1 Seed Over Nadal

Wimbledon sets itself apart from the other slams not only with the London traditions but with it's out of the ordinary seeding system. The directors of the year's 3rd slams give themselves the privilege of seeding the players not based on their rankings, but based on their grass-court records. This year the folks over at SW19 have made headlines in putting world number 2 Roger Federer as the top seed rather than the new world number 1, Rafael Nadal. Federer has won 6 titles at Wimbledon, while Rafa has just 1. The Spaniards last title, though, came the last time he played, in 2008, as injury kept him out of the 2009 championships.

Had Roger won that title in 2008, I would agree with the decision to swap the two but Rafa's current form is just too good, especially compared to Fed's, to not reward the reigning Roland Garros champion the top seed. But I'm sure he doesn't mind; most of his Majors have been won while seeded 2nd, right?

In other seeding changes, Lleyton Hewitt, who beat Federer last week in winning the Halle title, was bumped up 11 spots to no. 15, while big-serving Ivo Karlovic's impressive run at last year's tournament prompted a raise from number 33rd to 25th. Andy Roddick was seeded 5th, two higher than his world ranking.

There were minimal changes in the women's seedings, as Serena and Venus Williams take the 1 and 2 spot respectively. Elena Dementieva withdrew from the slam yesterday, meaning Francesca Schiavone gets raised one spot to 5th.

Davis Cup Results: Spain, Argentina and Serbia Take Early Leads; France, Croatia Clinch

The Davis Cup defending champions Spaniards kicked off their 2010 campaign with in good fashion. Nicolas Almagro fell to Stanislas Wawrinka, but Spain recovered, as David Ferrer and the doubles team won the next 2 matches to come within 1 match of clinching a spot in the quarterfinals.

Russia got off to a solid start in their rubber as well, as Mikhail Youzhny and Igor Kunitsyn took their respective singles matches to give their country a 2-0 lead. India got themselves back into it, though, when their doubles team of Mahesh Bhupathi and leander Paes won in straight sets.

The French became the 1st team of the weekend to clinch their tie, as the Germans didn't stand a chance against the powerful singles duo of Gael Monfils and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who beat Phillip Kohlschrieber and Benjamin Becker, respectively. Julien Benneteau and Michael llodra booked France a spot in the quarters with a 4 set doubles victory.

Croatia also clinched on Saturday, as Ivo Karlovic squeezed out a tough 5 setter of Ecuador's Nicolas Lapentti. Marin Cilic followed up Dr. Ivo's win with an east 3-setter Giovanna Lapentti. Cilic and Karlovic then paired up in the doubles, where they won in straights.

David Nalbandian made his return to Davis Cup after an injury-plagued 2009, and he was just as heroic as he was in 2008, leading Argentina to a straight-set doubles win over Sweden. In the singles, the two countries split, as Robin Soderling emerged 6-1, 7-6 (0), 7-5 over Eduardo Schwank, while Leandro Mayer beat Joachim Johansson in 4.

The Czechs became the 3rd team to have already moved onto the next round, as the Belgians barely put up a fight against the strong tandem of Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek, who both won in easy 3 setters. The two then paired up in doubles, again winning in straights to clinch the win.

The Americans have shown just how vulnerable they are without Andy Roddick and James Blake, as Serbians Victor Troicki and Novak Djokovic took advantage of the inexperienced singles pairing of John Isner and Sam Querrey to jump out to a commanding 2-0 lead. Int he doubles, Isner filled the void left by Mike Bryan quite nicely, teaming up with Mike's brother Bob to win in 4 sets.

The Israel-Chile match up has gotten underway after the 24-hour delay.