Iga Swiatek warns of ‘huge mess in the draws’ if Grand Slams change key system
Iga Swiatek “doesn’t think it’s a good idea” to adopt a weighted seeding system at Grand Slams despite Rafael Nadal’s nightmare draw at the French Open.
Despite being a 14-time Grand Slam winner in Paris, Nadal is unseeded at the 2024 French Open as he currently finds himself outside the top 200 in the ATP Rankings following his injury woes the past 18 months.
The Spaniard used his protected ranking to enter the main draw and he has been handed a brutal opening encounter as he will face fourth seed Alexander Zverev – one of the in form players on the ATP Tour as he is fresh from winning the Italian Open.
There were plenty of oohs and aahs when the draw was made as some believe Nadal should have been handed special seed based on a seeding formula that takes into account your past performances at the event.
These days all four Grand Slams use the official ATP and WTA Rankings to determine the top 32 seeds.
So should tournaments consider returning to the weighted system in order to avoid a Nadal-Zverev situation?
World No 1 Swiatek is against it, saying: “No, I think it would create a huge mess in the draws.
“In the women’s draw you have so many past Grand Slam champions that it would be – you know, one of them would be seeded, one of them not because they won Wimbledon and not Roland Garros or they won Australian Open, not Roland Garros.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea. It’s better to keep it that way, especially because you get seeded because of your past results. By ‘past’ I mean few months before. So it actually is showing your place in the rankings.”
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Swiatek has made no secret of the fact that she is a big Nadal fan so she will naturally be rooting for her hero.
There is added suspense to Nadal’s appearance in Paris this year as he had previously indicated that the 2024 tennis season would likely be his final one as a professional.
“It’s definitely a tough draw for Rafael Nadal, but I’ll be rooting for him,” four-time Grand Slam winner Swiatek said. “Sorry, Alexander Zverev! We’ll see. I don’t know that much about Alexander Zverev’s tennis to know what this match could be like.
“I mean, he’s a great player… I don’t know if he’ll be rusty or not. It’s the first round so you never know. We’ll see it more from a fan perspective than to analyse it.”
