the Hurlingham Club in London later this week , organizers announced Wednesday . The Spaniard will play Lleyton Hewitt of Australia on Thursday and Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland on Friday . Five-time champion and pre-tournament favorite Roger Federer is second seed at Wimbledon as he bids to set a record of 15 grand slam wins after his French Open triumph . Home hope Andy Murray , who won the Queen 's Club tournament on Sunday , is seeded third with Novak Djokovic of Serbia in fourth . Eighth-ranked Fernando Verdasco of Spain gets the seventh seed spot ahead of Frenchman Gilles Simon . Outside of the top seeds , Marat Safin of Russia has been elevated to 15th from his world ranking of 23 . Former world number one Safin reached the semifinals at the All England Club last year . Big-serving Croatian Ivo Karlovic is lifted to 23rd from 31st . The third grand slam of the year starts next Monday with the all-important draw being made on Friday . In the pre-Wimbledon warmup action on Wednesday , top seed Dinara Safina of Russia beat Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan 6-3 6-3 in the Ordina Open in the Netherlands .
-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Former champion Maria Sharapova has been seeded for next week 's Wimbledon championships . Sharapova powers a forehand during the WTA tournament in Birmingham last week . The Russian has only recently returned to action after a serious shoulder injury , but despite performing solidly in the French Open and reaching the semifinals of the WTA grasscourt event in Birmingham last week , she remained 59th in the rankings . But Wimbledon , who are alone among the grand slams in not sticking entirely with the official rankings of the ATP and WTA in deciding the seedings , have given Sharapova the 24th berth . World number one Dinara Safina of Russia is top seed , followed by Serena Williams and defending champion Venus Williams , who is elevated to third because of her prowess on grass . Rafael Nadal , who remains a slight injury doubt to take his place in the draw , is the top seed in the men 's tournament , with the top six spots in the list following the ATP rankings list . The defending champion will test his injured knees by playing in two exhibition matches on grass at