The Curse Of The Top Seed

Roger Federer, goes into this year's Australian Open as the top seed and many peoples favourite to triumph at Melbourne Park for the 4th time in his career, but it is interesting to note that in the last 2 seasons a top seed had only once go on to win a major, and that was Rafael Nadal at the Australian Open last year.

Federer was seeded number 1 2 years ago at the Australian Open but lost out in the Semis to Novak Djokovic, the Serb went on to win the title.

Federer was also seeded number 1 at the French Open and Wimbledon in 2008 but lost at both events in the final to Rafael Nadal.Nadal rose to number 1 in the world on the back of his superb form at the French Open and Wimbledon, however despite his number 1 seeding at the US Open he crashed out in the Semis, and it was Federer, seeded 2 in New York that year who won the title.

Last year top seed Nadal was overwhelming favourite to win the 4th French Open title of his career, but ge was upset by Soderling in the 4th round and this paved the way for Federer to win in Paris for the 1st time in his career.

Nadal then suffered a knee injury which meant that he could not defend his title, at Wimbledon, and the points that the Spaniard lost as a result of this saw, Federer regain his number 1 ranking and was one again seeded number 1 for the US Open, however the Swiss Maestro was stunned in the title match by Juan Martin Del Potro of Argentina.So with one week to go till the start of the Australian Open the big question is can Federer avoid the curse of being the top seed in a Grand Slam?