Erin Routliffe, Michael Venus both seeded for Wimbledon

Erin Routliffe and Michael Venus have both been seeded for Wimbledon in their respective doubles events.

Routliffe, who is ranked 35 in the world, is partnering with Alicja Rosolska from Poland for the grass court grand slam and together they have been seeded 11th, so should avoid playing against another of the top teams in the first round. The 36-year-old Rosolska is ranked 45 in the world.

This will be the first time in Routliffe’s career that she is seeded for a grand slam. Last year the 27-year-old decided not to play Wimbledon, on the hope of getting in from the alternate list and chose to play a US$60,000 tournament in Montpellier, France instead.

The top seeds in the ladies doubles are Elise Mertens from Belgium and China’s Zhang Shuai. 

Meanwhile, Michael Venus and Tim Puetz from Germany, fresh from reaching the final in Halle, have been announced as the sixth seeds in the gentlemen’s doubles.

Venus is ranked ninth in the world, while Puetz is at 14.

Nick Kyrgios and Thanasi Kokkinakis from Australia are the 11th seeds, so it wouldn’t be until the quarterfinals that there is any chance of a rematch of their contentious clash against Venus ant Puetz at the Australian Open.

The top seeds for the gentlemen’s doubles are Rajeev Ram from USA and Britain’s Joe Salisbury.