MELBOURNE: A long injury layoff and a fall in the rankings have created a tougher draw for 17-time Grand Slam winner Roger Federer at the Australian Open. Federer slipped to No. 17 in the rankings this week after Grigor Dimitrov won the Brisbane International and moved up to No. 15. The Australian Open tends to stick with the rankings when its seeds 32 players in each of the men's and women's 128-player singles draws, meaning the 35-year-old Federer gets less protection than usual and could potentially face a top 10 player in the third round. The seedings were confirmed by Australian Open organizers on Thursday. The draw will be held Friday for the season-opening major, which starts Monday at Melbourne Park. Federer has won the Australian Open four times, his first in 2004, and also reached the final in 2009, but he hasn't won the title here since 2010. He spent six months out of action last year while recovering after surgery on his left knee and finished 2016 at No. 16, ending a year in which his record run of 65 Grand Slam appearances ended when he couldn't contest the French Open. He also missed the U.S. Open. He returned to action at the international mixed teams exhibition at the Hopman Cup in Perth last week. As expected, No. 1-ranked Andy Murray is the top seed ahead of six-time Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic in the men's draw and Angelique Kerber, the reigning Australian and U.S. Open champion, is the top seed in the women's draw ahead of six-time campion Serena Williams, who is seeded No. 2. Wimbledon finalist Milos Raonic is No. 3 in the men's seedings, and U.S. Open champion Stan Wawrinka, Kei Nishikori, Gael Monfils, Marin Cilic, Dominic Thiem, 14-time major winner Rafael Nadal and Tomas Berdych round out the top 10. Following Kerber and Williams in the list of top 10 women's seeds are Agnieszka Radwanska, Simona Halep, Karolina Pliskova, Dominika Cibulkoa, Garbine Muguruza, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Johanna Konta and Carla Suarez Navarro. List of seeded players for the Australian Open MELBOURNE: List of seeded players in the men's and women's singles draws at the Australian Open, which begins Monday at Melbourne Park: Men 1. Andy Murray, Britain 2. Novak Djokovic, Serbia 3. Milos Raonic, Canada 4. Stan Wawrinka, Switerzland 5. Kei Nishikori, Japan 6. Gael Monfils, France 7. Marin Cilic, Croatia 8. Dominic Thiem, Austria 9. Rafael Nadal, Spain 10. Tomas Berdych, Czech Republic 11. David Goffin, Belgium 12. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, France 13. Roberto Bautista Agut, Spain 14. Nick Kyrgios, Australia 15. Grigor Dimitrov, Bulgaria 16. Lucas Pouille, France 17. Roger Federer, Switzerland 18. Richard Gasquet, France 19. John Isner, United States 20. Ivo Karlovic, Croatia 21. David Ferrer, Spain 22. Pablo Cuevas, Uruguay 23. Jack Sock, United States 24. Alexander Zverev, Germany 25. Gilles Simon, France 26. Albert Ramos-Vinolas, Spain 27. Bernard Tomic, Australia 28. Feliciano Lopez, Spain 29. Viktor Troicki, Serbia 30. Pablo Carreno Busta, Spain 31. Sam Querrey, United States 32. Philipp Kohlschreiber, Germany Women 1. Angelique Kerber, Germany 2. Serena Williams, United States 3. Agnieszka Radwanska, Poland 4. Simona Halep, Romania 5. Karolina Pliskova, Czech Republic 6. Dominika Cibulkova, Slovakia 7. Garbine Muguruza, Spain 8. Svetlana Kuznetsova, Russia 9. Johanna Konta, Britain 10. Carla Suarez Navarro, Spain 11. Elina Svitolina, Ukraine 12. Timea Bacsinszky, Switzerland 13. Venus Williams, United States 14. Elena Vesnina, Russia 15. Roberta Vinci, Italy 16. Barbora Strycova, Czech Republic 17. Caroline Wozniacki, Denmark 18. Sam Stosur, Australia 19. Kiki Bertens, Netherlands 20. Zhang Shuai, China 21. Caroline Garcia, France 22. Daria Gavrilova, Australia 23. Daria Kasatkina, Russia 24. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Russia 25. Timea Babos, Hungary 26. Laura Siegemund, Germany 27. Irina-Camelia Begu, Romania 28. Alize Cornet, France 29. Monica Puig, France 30. Ekaterina Makarova, Russia 31. Yulia Putintseva, Kazakhstan 32. Anastasija Sevastova, Latvia