Spring form tag select is not selecting option upon giving path?

Question

i have a contrller

@Controller
public class EmployeeController {
 @ModelAttribute("employeeForm")
 public EmployeeForm createForm(Model map, HttpSession session){
  EmployeeForm  form = new EmployeeForm ();
  form.setName("TestName");
  form.setAge("28");
  form.setRank("1");
  //calling service and getting data
 EmployeeDTO eDTO = new EmployeeDTO();
  eDTO = employeeService.getEmployeeDetails(employeeId);
 if(null!=eDTO){
  form.setName(eDTO.getName);//dto getName value = "Harry"
  form.setAge(eDTO.getAge);//dto getAge value = "45"
  form.setRank(eDTO.getRank);dto getRank value = "5"
 }
return form;
}

@ModelAttribute("rankValues")
public<Integer> getRankValues(){
List<Integer> ranks= new ArrayList<Integer>();
    for(int i=1;i<10;i++){
        ranks.add(Integer.valueOf(i));
    }
    return ranks;

}

}

IN jsp:

<div class="eRank">
  <form:select name="rank" id="employeeRank" class="test" path="rank">

<c:forEach items="${rankValues }" var="rank">

<option data-value="${rank}" value="${rank}">${rank}  
</option>
</c:forEach>                                     
</form:select>
</div>

i believe since i am using spring 4 as long as i set to the right path which is rank here in my case, value(here is 5 for rank) getting from calling service should automatically selected in my jsp dropdown but it is not happening for me. could someone please tell what i did wrong here please.