Muster may pull out of Wimbledon over low seeding

SIX DAYS to go, and the tantrums have started already. Thomas Muster, the world number two, has threatened not to play at Wimbledon next week after being demoted to number seven seed in the men's singles.

The 28 year old Austrian, who is competing in Halle, Germany, lodged his protest yesterday through his manager coach, Ronnie Leitgeb, who said: "Never in the history of Wimbledon has a world number two, a former number one, been seeded so low. That's a subtle way of saying they don't want him. This is further proof that the people in Britain don't value Thomas. When they call him on Monday, they will soon find out whether he's there or not."

Muster, who triumphed in 11 clay court tournaments last year, including the French Open, has not won a match in four visits to the All England Club's lawns. He had not won a match on grass as a senior until he defeated the South African Marcos Ondruska during a Davis Cup tie in February.

Last week, in the absence of Pete Sampras, the current number one, Muster was made top seed for the Stella Artois Championships at Queen's Club, London, and lost in the semi finals to Stefan Edberg.

Yesterday's Wimbledon draw projected a quarter final between Muster and Sampras, who has won the title for the past three years. Both face potential hazards before that. Should Muster advance to the fourth round, he could find himself playing Michael Stich, the 1991 champion, who is seeded as low as number 10 in spite of reaching the French Open final.

Sampras, who opens his defence on the Centre Court at 2pm on Monday against Richey Reneberg, an American compatriot, may then face Mark Philippoussis, the Melbourne teenager who overpowered him in the third round of the Australian Open in January.

Edberg, seeded number 12 for his farewell appearance after finishing runner up to Boris Becker at Queen's on Sunday, is in Sampras's half and is drawn to play the sixth seeded Michael Chang in the fourth round.

Tim Henman, the British number one, has drawn the fifth seeded Yevgeny Kafelnikov, who won the French Open 11 days ago, defeating Sampras in the semi finals.

Monica Seles's first match at Wimbledon for four years will be against Ann Grossman, an American compatriot. If the seedings work out, Seles, the number two seed, will play Arantxa Sanchez Vicario, last year's runner up, in the semi finals.

Steffi Graf opens her defence of the title against Ludmila. Richterova, of the Czech Republic. The German number one seed could face Jana Novotna in the quarter finals.