Andy Murray has backed Wimbledon's unique seeding system after he was given a ranking rise that could aid his defence of the men's singles title.
Murray, who starts his bid to retain the Wimbledon crown against Belgium's David Goffin on Monday, was seeded third despite being ranked fifth in the tennis world, meaning his path to the latter stages of the tournament is less daunting than it might have been.
That two-place advantage, owing to Wimbledon's decision to change their seedings based on each player's record on grass, means Murray cannot face tournament favourite Novak Djokovic until the last four and world number one Rafael Nadal until the final.
Switzerland's Stan Wawrinka, the world number three who won the Australian Open earlier this year, is the biggest loser as his seeding drops to fifth to accommodate Murray, as well as Roger Federer, who moves up to fourth.
Wimbledon's system is different from the other three grand slam events, who all use the ATP Tour rankings to decide seeds, prompting some critics to suggest they should fall in line with the Australian, French and US Opens.
But Murray, the first British man to win Wimbledon for 77 years, disagrees.
"To be honest I think the way they do it is correct with the seedings," Murray said.
"Some people might say that's because my seeding's obviously moved up, but there are so few tournaments on grass now that there are so few points up for grabs on the surface that it is in a way a specialist surface.
"Not many guys, some guys like (Tommy) Robredo for example, will only play one tournament a year on grass.
"So I think it is relevant the way the players perform on it, in terms of the seedings and how deep guys can go in the event."
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