Melbourne, Australia – World No. 1 Novak Djokovic is the top seed for the 2013 Australian Open, which will commence next Monday.
Djokovic is a three-time Aussie Open champ who will be seeking a third straight title in Melbourne. The Serbian star outlasted Spanish great Rafael Nadal in the longest-ever Grand Slam final at last year's Aussie.
Nadal will miss the latest edition of the event while he recovers from an illness and a knee injury.
The high-flying Djokovic is followed by second-seeded four-time Aussie champion Roger Federer, two-time runner-up Andy Murray, David Ferrer and former Wimbledon finalist Tomas Berdych. Murray is the reigning U.S. Open and Olympic champion and titled at a season-opening event in Brisbane last week.
Seeds six-through-10 are former U.S. Open champ Juan Martin del Potro, former Aussie Open runner-up Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, last week's Chennai titlist Janko Tipsarevic, last week's Doha champ Richard Gasquet, and Nicolas Almagro. Towering American John Isner is seeded 12th. The last American man to title in Melbourne was Andre Agassi 10 years ago.
All 32 seeds will swing into action next week at Melbourne Park.
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