Tim Henman was last night given the perfect launchpad in his attempt to become the first Briton to win the Wimbledon men's singles title for 65 years.

Henman was named as the number six seed, well above his world ranking of 11, in a draw which contains 32 seeds for the first time in a Grand Slam and juggles ranking and grass form in a bid to appease the critics.

The British number one is one place below Australia's Lleyton Hewitt, who beat him in the Stella Artois final at Queen's on Sunday.

Pete Sampras, the reigning champion and undisputed king of the Centre Court, is handed the number one seeding as expected despite a dismal year so far and the fact that he is only number five in the world rankings.

He is seeded to meet number two seed Andre Agassi in a repeat of the all-American final of 1999.

Wimbledon, however, have bent over backwards in their attempts to appease the clay-court faction who had threatened a boycott if the world rankings were not adhered to.

Spain's Juan Carlos Ferrero, the tournament's most voluble critic, has been seeded number eight. And while that is four places beneath his world ranking on the ATP entry system it is still a lofty position for someone who has no grass court pedigree and has never before played Wimbledon.

Ferrero, who lost to Gustavo Kuerten in the French Open semi-final, last week insisted he was against the new seedings initiative and was unlikely to compete at Wimbledon.

Now any withdrawal would be seen as particularly churlish.

''It's a mistake by the ATP,'' he said last week. ''I'm in favour of a boycott. If the seedings are decided according to results of previous years there are a lot of chances I won't go.''

Compatriot Carlos Moya, seeded number 21, one above his world ranking, can have no complaints. Nor can fellow-Spaniard Albert Portas, even though he is two positions below his ranking of 23.

Alex Corretja, the French Open finalist, has already pulled out, citing a leg injury.

This is the first time Wimbledon had scrapped its seeding committee and used the ATP world ranking entry system to decide who should be seeded and then computed in each player's form on grass to determine their position on the seeding ladder.

And while volatile Marat Safin will be displeased at figuring one place below his number three world ranking, the truth is the Russian has never progressed beyond the second round in SW19.

By contrast, Henman's impressive record of two semi-finals and two quarter-finals in the last five years, plus a fourth round knockout against Mark Philippoussis last year, was instrumental in seeing him elevated from his 11th position on the ATP Entry list.

Indeed, his recent record on the Wimbledon lawns is second only to that of Sampras, who is bidding to become the first man to win the trophy for the fifth consecutive time since Bjorn Borg who achieved that feat back in 1980.

It would be Sampras' eighth Wimbledon title in all, which would leave him out alone as the most prolific champion in the tournament's 124-year history.

Jonas Bjorkman, president of the Players' Council, said: ''I think all the players should be really pleased with the efforts Wimbledon have made. They've worked very hard to please the players and this is the fairest way you can have.''

Meanwhile, Greg Rusedski, due to an injury-hit season last year, does not enjoy a seeding and will be the most dangerous outsider when the men's draw is made this morning.

The women's tournament, already missing Mary Pierce, was last night hit by the withdrawal of Monica Seles through injury.

Martina Hingis, despite not winning a Grand Slam for two years, is named as the women's top seed with reigning champion Venus Williams number two.

Jennifer Capriati, bidding for her third consecutive Grand Slam title of the year, is number four.

Anna Kournikova has been forced to pull out of the tournament because the stress fracture in her left foot has not healed in time for her to play.

The 20-year-old Russian's withdrawal had been widely expected after she pulled out of this week's Britannic Asset Management international championship at Eastbourne.

Kournikova, whose injury was picked up in February this year, had previously been forced out of the French Open and an exhibition match in Edgbaston earlier this month.

It is her second withdrawal from Wimbledon in four years, after a thumb injury forced her out of the 1998 event.

l Michael Russell, the American who as a qualifier at French Open came within a point of deposing Gustavo Kuerten in the fourth round, will not be emulating his excellent run at Wimbledon. He crashed out of the Roehampton qualifying event 6-7 6-2 6-2 to 31-year-old Cristiano Caratti.

Top seed Russell was never in the match and struggled to stay with his Italian opponent despite gaining an early advantage by taking the first set on a tiebreak.

Todd Woodbridge, a former world number 19 who has managed to slip down the rankings to 225, showed his grass court prowess in dispatching Germany's Axel Pretsch 7-5 6-3 but admitted he had lost his concentration on a few occasions when ahead.

''I did knuckle down eventually to finish it off but I will have to improve my serve a little bit,'' he said.