Roddick seeded second at Wimbledon

Men's runner-up Andy Roddick was promoted from his ranking of four on Wednesday to be named second seed for next week's Wimbledon championships.

American Roddick was elevated above 2002 winner and world number two Lleyton Hewitt. As expected twice champion Roger Federer topped the list followed by Roddick, Australia's Hewitt and newly-crowned French Open champion Rafael Nadal of Spain.

British hope Tim Henman, four-times a semi-finalist at the All England Club, was rewarded for his record at the tournament by being bumped up three places to sixth.

Women's champion Maria Sharapova of Russia was seeded second behind American world number one Lindsay Davenport.

Former winners Serena Williams and her sister Venus were seeded fourth and 14th respectively.

While Wimbledon organisers usually follow the WTA rankings in determining the women's seeds, the men's event has its own criteria.

Unlike other major tournaments, Wimbledon does not follow the ATP rankings and instead uses a combination of rankings and grasscourt form over recent years when determining men's seeds.

Last year's losing semi-finalists, Frenchman Sebastien Grosjean and Croatia's Mario Ancic, were the main beneficiaries of the system.

Grosjean was boosted 17 places from his world ranking of 26 to ninth seed while Ancic was pushed up 11 slots to 10th.

Players have also benefitted from the withdrawals of world number six Andre Agassi and a handful of claycourt specialists, who often shun the grasscourt grand slam.

The season's third grand slam tournament will be held from June 20 to July 3.