Bhupathi-Mirnyi top seeded at Wimbledon

Mahesh Bhupathi and Max Mirnyi have been top seeded while Leander Paes and David Rikl seeded five in the doubles events of the Wimbledon championships beginning June 23.

Mahesh Bhupathi and Max Mirnyi have been top seeded while Leander Paes and David Rikl seeded five in the doubles events of the Wimbledon championships beginning June 23.

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Paes and Rikl of the Czech Republic are ranked third, above Bhupathi and Belarussian Mirnyi at five, in the ATP Doubles Race but the year's only grass court grand slam gives weightage to players' performance on grass in its seeding formula.

The players are first listed as per their rankings and then 100 per cent of the points they earned on grass court events in the last 12 months as well as 75 per cent of the points they earned in the previous 12 months are added to arrive at the final list.

Bhupathi and Mirnyi, the reigning US Open champions, reached the final of the Queen's Club event last week while Paes, partnering Donald Johnson, lost in the first round at Halle, Germany.

Bhupathi and Mirnyi, who lost to Paes and Rikl in the quarterfinals at the French Open on clay, also reached the last-eight stage at Wimbledon last year.

Bhupathi and Paes together triumphed at Wimbledon in their watershed year of 1999 when they reached the finals of all four grand slams.