‘Djokovic-Nadal in the quarterfinals?’ Patrick McEnroe fumes over the French Open seeding system, calls for immediate change
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Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal
Tennis fans and pundits are pretty upset with the 2022 French Open Men’s Singles draw. The draw is extremely lopsided with a very heavily packed top half of the draw. The three French Open champions in the draw, Novak Djokovic, Stan Wawrinka, and Rafael Nadal are placed in the same quarter which means that they could meet as early as the quarterfinal stage.
This is because Djokovic is seeded No.1 while Nadal doesn’t find himself in the top 4 seeds. He is seeded 5th which meant that he could’ve been drawn against any of the top 4 seeds in the last 8 and to his everyone’s dismay, he was drawn against Djokovic. American tennis legend, Patrick McEnroe addressed the seeding issue and called for a change in the way seeding works at the French Open.
He said that due to this ranking-based seeding system, we already had Nadal-Djokovic last year in the semis where it should’ve been in the final, and this year they could meet in the quarterfinals.
“Come on French Open, it’s time to go with the seeding system. Enough already. We had Nadal and Djokovic last year in the semis. One of the greatest matches ever, in the semis. Tennis needs it in the final. Now we could have Djokovic-Nadal in the quarterfinals. Come on, let’s get it together, finally,” McEnroe said.
He said that the French Open should the seeding like Wimbledon did- on the basis of the surface. “When is the French Open going to finally get it together and do their seeds the way they do it at Wimbledon? Which accentuates the success of the player on that particular surface,” he added.
‘Daniil Medvedev is seeded number two? That is ridiculous’: Patrick McEnroe
McEnroe justified that most of the tour is played on hard court and hence counting the ranking points as the basis of seeding at the French Open and Wimbledon is very unfair.
“Most of the tour is played on a hard court. Very little is played on grass, a little bit more on clay. That’s why they need to change the system…The surface is so extraordinary and it makes such a huge difference,” he pointed out.
He also said that US Open champion Daniil Medvedev as the No.2 seed at Roland Garros is a joke given Medvedev’s woes at the red dirt. “Daniil Medvedev is seeded number two? That is ridiculous. He deserves to be seeded no. 2 at every hardcourt tournament and certainly at Wimbledon,” he said.
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Lakshya Chopra
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