<P> A seed is a competitor or team in a sport or other tournament who is given a preliminary ranking for the purposes of the draw . Players / teams are "planted" into the bracket in a manner that is typically intended so that the best do not meet until later in the competition . The term was first used in tennis, and is based on the idea of laying out a tournament ladder by arranging slips of paper with the names of players on them the way seeds or seedlings are arranged in a garden: smaller plants up front, larger ones behind . </P> <P> Sometimes the remaining competitors in a single - elimination tournament will be "re-seeded" so that the highest surviving seed is made to play the lowest surviving seed in the next round, the second - highest plays the second - lowest, etc . This may be done after each round, or only at selected intervals . </P>

Where does the term seed come from in sports
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