DEFENDING champion Andy Murray will be top seed at Wimbledon for the first time.

The world No 1, who beat Milos Raonic to win the title for the second time in 2016, leads a top four of Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.

Wimbledon is the only grand slam tournament where the seedings do not automatically follow the rankings, with greater weight being given to recent results on grass.

Djokovic and Federer are the main beneficiaries, with Djokovic, the champion in 2014 and 2015, seeded second despite having dropped to fourth in the rankings.

Federer is ranked fifth but his ninth title in Halle last week was enough to earn him the number three seeding ahead of world No 2 Nadal, who has struggled on grass in recent years.

It is the first time the ‘big four’ of men’s tennis have been the top four seeds at a slam since Wimbledon 2014, with world No 3 Stan Wawrinka, who has never reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon, seeded fifth.

Raonic is sixth, with Marin Cilic, Dominic Thiem, Kei Nishikori and Alexander Zverev rounding off the top 10.

Grass-court lover Gilles Muller is the big mover, with the Luxembourger ranked 26th but seeded 16th.

The women’s seedings match the rankings and are headed by world No 1 Angelique Kerber, who was beaten in the final by Serena Williams last year.

In the absence of the 23-time grand slam champion as she awaits the birth of her first child, Simona Halep is seeded second, Karolina Pliskova third and Elina Svitolina fourth.

Britain’s Johanna Konta is seeded sixth – the highest for a British woman since Virginia Wade in 1979.

Other notable names include five-time champion Venus Williams at 10, two-time winner and title favourite Petra Kvitova at 11 and French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko at 13.

Jamie Murray and his Brazilian partner Bruno Soares are seeded third in the men’s doubles as they chase their first Wimbledon title.

Meanwhile, Djokovic continued his preparations for Wimbledon with a straight sets defeat of Canada’s Vasek Pospisil in the first round of the Aegon International at Eastbourne.

The Serbian had been forced to wait 24 hours after heavy rain caused a delay from the second game on Tuesday and returned to win 6-4, 6-3.

After initially appearing relaxed and displaying his class, he occasionally struggled to build momentum.

Djokovic had not previously competed at Eastbourne and had not since 2010 entered an official grass-court tournament between the French Open and Wimbledon, generally preferring to rest.

However his pursuit of the form that has eluded him over the past 12 months, resulting in a failure to win any of the Grand Slams and the appointment of Andre Agassi as his trainer, again began to appear beyond him.

The 30-year-old had rescued two break points in the opening game on Tuesday, when play was abandoned with him leading 1-0 and 30-15 in the second, and he needed 47 minutes to finally break Pospisil and take the first set.

Occasional errors undermined his game and were taken advantage of by the confident qualifier, 27, delaying Djokovic extending his lead.

At 2-2 in the second, he then rescued a break point with an exceptional backhand drop shot, and it was then that his movement, belief and forehand significantly improved.

Finding his range to earn two break points and force Popsisil to return into the net, he then broke the Canadian to take a 4-2 lead and watch his opponent drop his racket in anger.

Both then routinely held before, with the world No 75 remaining resilient, Djokovic played another backhand winner for his second match point and Pospisil’s exit was secured.