The world’s top-ranked players, Serena Williams and Novak Djokovic, will be the top seeds at next week’s Western & Southern Open at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason, Ohio. 

Seeds are based on the Monday, Aug. 10, rankings from the WTA and the ATP World Tour. With all top players for each Tour entered in the tournament, the seedings also reflect the current ranking for each player. 

Williams comes to Cincinnati looking to defend her title while in the midst of pursuing the rare calendar year Grand Slam. At Wimbledon, she completed her second career “Serena Slam,” and currently is the title holder of all four Major championships. Should she repeat as US Open champion later this summer, Williams would be the first woman to win all four Slams in the same season since Steffi Graf in 1988.

Cincinnati was the start of this run by Williams. Since arriving at the Western & Southern Open last summer, Williams has posted a record of 59-3 with 7 titles. She is bidding to be the first woman to repeat as Cincinnati champion since Peaches Bartkowicz did so in 1966-1967.

Djokovic is seeded No. 1 for the third year in a row and fourth time in the past five years. He has drawn into a tie with John McEnroe and Bobby Riggs for third-most times as the No. 1 seed in tournament history, behind Roger Federer (7), Pete Sampras (5) and Bill Talbert (5). 

A four-time finalist in Cincinnati, it remains the only ATP Masters 1000 tournament Djokovic has not won.

For defending champion Federer, this will be his 14th year as a seed, establishing a tournament record, surpassing the mark of 13 that was held by Andre Agassi. The six-time Cincinnati champion is bidding to win back-to-back Western & Southern Open titles for the second time in his career (2009-2010).

There are 16 seeds in each 56-player field. The top eight seeds from both draws will receive first round byes.

WTA Seeds

1. Serena Williams (USA); 2. Maria Sharapova (Russia); 3. Simona Halep (Romania); 4. Petra Kvitova (Czech Republic); 5. Caroline Wozniacki (Denmark); 6. Ana Ivanovic (Serbia); 7. Lucie Safarova (Czech Republic); 8. Karolina Pliskova (Czech Republic); 9. Garbiñe Muguruza (Spain); 10. Carla Suarez Navarro (Spain); 11. Angelique Kerber (Germany); 12. Ekaterina Makarova (Russia); 13. Timea Bacsinszky (Switzerland); 14. Agnieszka Radwanska (Poland); 15. Elina Svitolina (Ukraine); 16. Andrea Petkovic (Germany);

ATP World Tour Seeds

1. Novak Djokovic (Serbia); 2. Roger Federer (Switzerland); 3. Andy Murray (Great Britain); 4. Kei Nishikori (Japan); 5. Stan Wawrinka (Switzerland); 6. Tomas Berdych (Czech Republic); 7. David Ferrer (Spain); 8. Marin Cilic (Croatia); 9. Rafael Nadal (Spain); 10. Milos Raonic (Canada); 11. Gilles Simon (France); 12. John Isner (USA); 13. Richard Gasquet (France); 14. David Goffin (Belgium); 15. Gael Monfils (France); 16. Kevin Anderson (South Africa).

Many sessions for the 2015 W&S Open are already sold out. The event recently released 1500 Grounds Passes per session for the day sessions on Tuesday, August 18 through Friday, August 21.

The Western & Southern Open will be held August 15-23, 2015, at the Lindner Family Tennis Center, 20 miles north of Cincinnati in Mason, Ohio. The tournament is one of the prestigious ATP Masters 1000 events on the men’s tour and a Premier 5 event for the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA), making it one of only five events in the world outside of the grand slams with events of that caliber occurring during the same week at the same venue. More than 67 million people watch the event worldwide. The tournament is also one of the last stops on the Emirates Airline US Open Series before the US Open in New York. Since 1974, the tournament has contributed more than $9 million directly to its beneficiaries: Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, the Barrett Cancer Center and Tennis for City Youth.