The Seeds of Disagreement

The clay season is in full swing on both the ATP and WTA tours. Nadal and Sharapova have both defended clay titles and Djokovic played spoiler to Nadal in Monte Carlo (on a side note, it has to be nice for Djokovic to be able to win the trophy and then just take it down the street to his house and watch a movie.) With the French Open rapidly approaching, an interesting topic has come up. There have been rumblings and discussions about whether or not Nadal should be given a seed at the French that is higher than his current ranking (#5). Let's play Yay and Nay with this idea:

Yay: I think by now we all know what Nadal's record on clay and at the French is. He definitely can't be considered the #5 player in the world when it comes to playing on the dirt. He has collected multiple titles on the surface this year and has throttled all the best clay court players with the exception of Djokovic. Taking history, injury layoff and recent performance into account, he would easily be above #5 when it comes to seeding. Allowing him to be #5 creates early match ups that would otherwise be later into the tournament. He could potentially see Djokovic in the quarters. Tennis needs its big names in big matches. The quarters are simply not going to cut it in terms of getting eyeballs tuned in. If Wimbledon can do it, why shouldn't another Grand Slam be allowed to use their own formula to create their seeding?

Nay: The idea of giving Nadal a higher seed into the French is the definition of a slippery slope. There is a reason that Wimbledon is the only Grand Slam allowed to utilize their own formula for seeding. Grass is an outlier when it comes to the playing surfaces on tour these days. The Wimbledon formula take into account current ranking, plus all current grass results and the best grass result from the previous season. Clay is a much larger portion of the tour schedule and should not be considered in the same light as grass as the percentage of play on the two surfaces is vastly different. The other portion of the issue involves the concern over match ups  What exactly is everybody worked up about if Nadal is seeded #5? It is an issue for the sole reason that it makes it likely for him to play Djokovic in the quarters. Obviously, everybody wants that match up to be deeper into the tournament than that. But allowing the seeding to be changed in deference to to the match up just opens way too many doors. By altering the seeding, the ATP would create a precedent for tournaments to be able to manipulate their draws more than they should. Tournaments could then shift seeds, etc to try and create their dream final. I'm not saying that this is guaranteed to happen but i think it makes it more difficult for the ATP to block if they have allowed the French to do it. There comes a point where everybody needs to simply play the hand they are dealt. Nadal is #5 for a reason. He was off for an extended period and has also had mixed results on surfaces other than clay in the last couple years. Despite his record against some of the players in front of him (17-4 against #4 Ferrer), he should have to play his way up the ladder just like anyone else would be expected to.  

Bottom line, I disagree with any seeding modifications for the French Open. Wimbledon is the lone established exception to how the seeding format works. The age old saying "if it ain't broke, don't fix it," applies here. Nadal was broken, not the ranking system. If he should be seeded higher, then he needs to play, stay injury free and get results that warrant a rise in the rankings. Get your popcorn ready, it should be a heck of a quarterfinal round in a few weeks!!