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