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Wimbledon came up with a traditional British compromise this morning when it went halfway to recognising Serena Williams as one of the strong favourites for The Championships.

The 36-year-old American is ranked 183 but will be placed in the draw as the 25th seed to ensure that neither she nor other top players can meet each other until the third round at the earliest.

As predicted in Sportsmail on Tuesday, the move recognises the fact that she missed so much tennis through giving birth in September. She has played only three tournaments and seven matches since then.

Serena Williams has been handed a seeding berth — 25th — for Wimbledon this year

Former world No 1 Andy Murray has not been given a spot in the seeding charts for Wimbledon

British No 1 Kyle Edmund has been seeded for the competition for the first time, being handed the No 22 berth. 

Regarding Williams, even on the comeback trail there are clearly not 24 players with a better chance of winning the tournament than her, so the All England Club committee's decision is something of a fudge. Most bookmakers have her as the second favourite at around 6-1.

It is understandable that they did not wish to go too far and, for example, put her in the top eight who are seeded to make the quarter finals.

That would have meant relegating world No 8 and twice champion Petra Kvitova, who has won five tournaments this year and, after winning the Birmingham WTA event at the weekend, most odds setters have her as the favourite to win the event.

The rules on this need better definition, and in the end Wimbledon has had to fall back on a cover-all clause which allows them to intervene to produce a 'balanced' draw.

Current British No 1 Kyle Edmund has been seeded for the competition for the first time

World No 32 Dominika Cibulkova has not been seeded for the competition at Wimbledon

However, it is not a victimless situation. World No 32 Dominika Cibulkova – who has worked the whole year to keep her ranking up – will now receive no protection in the draw and be left to its mercy.

She is not happy about that and said on Tuesday: 'It's just not fair if there is a player (missing out) and it's me now. I have the right and I should be seeded and if they put her in front of me then I will just lose my spot that I am supposed to have. I don't know if something like this ever happened before.'

Cibulkova is not alone among the players in believing that professional tennis is not an ordinary workplace, and that special allowances for pregnant players are unfair on others. It is an issue on which there is divided opinion in the locker room.

But the decision has been made, and seven-times champion Williams finds herself slotted into the draw on Friday at No 25 between No 24 Maria Sharapova and No 26, Australia's Daria Gavrilova.

Roger Federer has been given the No 1 seed by the All England Lawn Tennis Club

Williams will now be lined up to meet one of the top eight seeds in the third round, although recent Grand Slams on the women’s side have been so unpredictable that nothing should be taken for granted

Britain's Johanna Konta will be No 22.

The men's seedings are subject to different rules, which say that nobody can be seeded unless they are already ranked inside the world's top 32. Therefore there is no place for Andy Murray, ranked 156th, who is fast looking the most dangerous 'floater' in the draw.

The positions are worked out on a formula which takes into account past accomplishments on grass which, questionably, Wimbledon still regards as a special surface with peculiarities that need taking into account.

This means that world No 2 Roger Federer is switched around with world No 1 Rafael Nadal as first and second seed respectively, although that is only a symbolic thing.