Seven-time French Open champion Rafael Nadal will not have his seeding bumped up at this year's Roland Garros, organisers confirmed on Saturday. The Spaniard's world ranking has slipped to five after he missed seven months of action through injury. As a result, there had been speculation that the 26-year-old would receive a higher seeding at the tournament to reflect his record where he has only lost one match.
But as world number five, Nadal could now be a potential quarter-final opponent for one of the world's top three of Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Andy Murray. "We thought about it for a long time, but not as a way of avoiding Djokovic in the quarter-finals," tournament director Gilbert Ysern told French sports daily L'Equipe on Saturday. "With his record at the tournament, the best player in history of the event and all that he represents, it seemed incongruous that he could arrive in Paris at number four or five.
"But now, having weighed it up, the for and against, we decided not to touch the seedings. "What could have been considered a homage or a tribute appeared like a dirty business." Ysern added that at no time had Nadal asked for his seeding to be boosted.
Comments
Comments are closed.