Despite having a dominant record at the French Open, 14-time champion Rafael Nadal has not been seeded this year and so could have been placed anywhere in the bracket and been stuck playing anyone at all, even the very best opponents.
Nadal, who turns 38 on June 3 and has said previously he expects this to be his last season, will face No. 4 seed Alexander Zverev in the first round on Monday.
Because of injuries, including a surgically repaired hip and problematic abdominal muscle, Nadal has not played much in the past two seasons, going only 7-4 in 2024. So, someone who has been ranked No. 1 and spent more than a decade inside the top 10 is now outside the top 250.
This is Nadal’s first Grand Slam tournament without a seeding since the 2005 Australian Open. The top 32 players in the men’s and women’s draws are seeded, and the seedings are based on the ATP and WTA rankings, which take into account the most recent 52 weeks of results. In theory, Mauresmo could have opted to circumvent the rules and go ahead and award a seeding to Nadal based on his past performances in Paris. But that was never really considered, she said, in part because “giving protection to some players” would result in “a lot of other issues and problems,” and because “it also has to be OK with other Grand Slams and everything.”
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Players who are seeded, such as Zverev, are guaranteed to avoid going up against another seeded player any earlier than the third round of a Grand Slam tournament, which have 128-player fields and require seven victories to earn a championship.
Players tend to agree with Mauresmo’s decision, with several saying they believe the seeding system should remain the way it currently is (Wimbledon used to seed players according to their results on grass courts, but has strictly followed the rankings since 2021). “The way that the seedings work, I think it’s appropriate. In this case, it’s unfortunate how that happened, but I don’t know how you gauge where someone should and shouldn’t be seeded based on past or previous success,” said three-time major champion Andy Murray. “It’d be quite hard to do that.”
Zverev is coming off a title on clay at the Italian Open, won a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics and was the 2020 U.S. Open runner-up. He reached the semifinals at the French Open each of the past three years, including in 2022, when he played Nadal at that stage but had to stop after tearing ligaments in his right foot during the match.
The 27-year-old from Germany, is about to face a court proceeding that starts next week in Berlin related to accusations of physically abusing an ex-girlfriend. He does not need to be in court and said he will not be. “At the end of the day, I do believe in the German system. I do believe in the truth, as well. I have to be certain that, you know, I do know what I did, I do know what I didn’t do,” Zverev said. “That’s, at the end of the day, what’s going to come out, and I have to trust in that.”
Mauresmo was asked about Zverev’s status and replied: “As long as the trial isn’t finished and there isn’t a decision, he’s considered innocent and so that’s why he’s allowed to be part of the draw.”
