Wimbledon: Kyrgios, Gavrilova seeded 20th

Nick Kyrgios and Daria Gavrilova head the Aussie charge at Wimbledon in 2017, with the youngsters both seeded 20th for this year's Championships.

London, UK, 28 June 2017 | AAP

Nick Kyrgios will have to do it the hard way if he’s to progress to the second week of Wimbledon after missing an all-important top 16 seeding for the grasscourt Grand Slam starting on Monday.

Australia’s top title hope has been seeded 20th in line with his world ranking, meaning he’ll be slightly more vulnerable at Friday’s draw in London.

A quarterfinalist on debut in 2014, Kyrgios has fallen in the fourth round the past two years.

But without top 16 protection, he could strike a higher-ranked opponent as early as the third round this year.

He will, though, avoid running into one of the game’s heavyweights including top-seeded titleholder Andy Murray or fellow multiple champions Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic or Rafael Nadal until the round of 16.

Kyrgios hasn’t played since aggravating a hip injury in a tumble at the Queen’s Club last week; the 21-year-old is due to make his return at The Boodles exhibition event later this week.

World No.1 Murray has top billing, with Djokovic and Federer both elevated above their rankings to second and third seeding respectively under the All England Club’s use of a formula taking into grasscourt form.

Nadal is the fourth seed in his quest to complete the third French Open-Wimbledon title double of his career.

Kyrgios is Australia’s only seed in the men’s draw after Bernard Tomic, currently ranked 60th, missed a prized top-32 slot.

Daria Gavrilova, Australia’s highest-ranked woman, has also been seeded 20th.

Gavrilova enters the tournament with some grasscourt form under her belt, having advanced to the quarterfinals in Birmingham last week.

On Monday, however, she fell in her opening-round match in Eastbourne.

World No.1 Angelique Kerber is the women’s top seed ahead of Simona Halep and Karolina Pliskova, all in order of their world rankings.

Defending champion Serena Williams’ absence through pregnancy, as well as that of injured former champion Maria Sharapova in her comeback from a doping ban, has thrown the women’s draw wide open.