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BGonline.org Forums
OT - French Open 1st Round Draw/Seeding
Posted By: Stick
Date: Wednesday, 29 May 2024, at 8:13 a.m.
I was shocked when I saw that Nadal wasn't seeding going into the tournament. Leading up to RG he had only played 11 matches going 7-4 with 8 of those matches being on clay (5-3 on clay). Very un-Nadal like. He was using a protected ranking of #9 in the world to get into these tournaments since he's been out for basically a year and would otherwise have been ranked #275.
This mf has won 14 French Opens. He has by far the highest win % on the ATP on clay at around 91%. What in the holy name of hand grenades were the organizers of the French Open thinking when they plopped him in unseeded which meant a potential nightmare draw for Rafa?! (or his opponent) Would anyone in their right mind think that Cerundolo or Etcheverry or a slew of other people you haven't heard of should be ranked ahead of Rafa? Out of your gd mind.
Due to all this and some bad luck, Rafa draw Zverev in the first round. The current #4 in the world and ignoring right when he came on tour, an excellent clay court player. Rafa was a dog going into the match with the betting line having Zverev as about a 2-1 favorite. Rafa ended up losing in straight sets, not entirely shocking.
Not allowing Rafa to be seeded and perhaps 'play his way' into the tournament by getting in some matches/reps against competition that is at least pretty far removed from Zverev's level would have done wonders for the fans. It would have done wonders for tennis. It would have knocked it out of the park for the tournament's bottom line along with tv viewing/advertisements/etc... I just can't see a legit reason not to seed him.
Stick
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