Time for Grand Slams to ditch 32-seed system after Zverev-Nadal and Swiatek-Osaka match-ups?

Should the four Grand Slams consider reverting back to the 16-seed system on the back of some blockbuster matches during the opening rounds of the French Open?

The first few days at majors are often limp affairs as the big-name players are able to avoid each other until the later rounds thanks to the 32-seed system.

But the 2024 Roland Garros draw threw up some interesting early-round clashes as 14-time champion Rafael Nadal was paired with fourth seed Alexander Zverev after the Spaniard entered the tournament with a protected ranking as he has slumped down the rankings due to injury.

It was the first time that Nadal had been unseeded at the French Open, but it made for a high-profile encounter on day two in Paris and the who’s who of tennis were at Court Philippe-Chatrier to catch a glimpse of the match as Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz and Iga Swiatek were all in the stands.

Zverev ended up winning the match in straight sets, but two days later and there was another plum match as defending champion and top seed Swiatek took on former world No 1 Naomi Osaka in the second round.

The Swiatek-Osaka encounter was a classic as the Pole saved a match point before winning in three sets with many feeling it was a match worthy of a Grand Slam final.

Like Nadal, Osaka also entered the main draw at Roland Garros with a special ranking after she missed the 2023 season following the birth of her first child, a daughter named Shai.

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These types of encounters are usually reserved for the second week of majors due to the seedings, but it begs the question: Would Grand Slams be better off reverting back to the 16-seed structure?

Back in the day, the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and US Open only had 16 seeds and it meant the world No 1 could play against the world No 17 in the opening round of a major.

But it all changed in 2001 when the four Grand Slams doubled the seeds to 32 and it means the big-name players can only meet from the third round onwards unless you have a situation where a player uses a wildcard or protected ranking to enter the main draw.

Tennis analyst and commentator Mark Petchey feels the sport would be better off going back to 16 seeds.

“Given the attention the Zverev/Nadal match gave @rolandgarros post draw and yesterday, wasn’t just 16 seeds a great thing to grab the attention of the sporting world at the beginning of Majors?” he wrote on X.

He added: “Going to revisit this after yesterday’s incredible match. Surely having these high quality matches and superstars potentially meeting first week is better for these events?”

Back in 2017, the Grand Slam Board (GSB) announced plans to revert back to 16 seeds at the beginning of the 2019 season and it even got the support of legend Roger Federer.

“That’s how it used to be when I came up, way back when,” the Swiss said at the time. “There’s definitely something intriguing about having 16 seeds. I do see the problem of the 32 seeds, plus you have eight seeds who get byes at Masters 1000 [events].

“You have these stairs that can make you feel safe and I feel like there’s too many to get to the top,” Federer said. “It’s hard to drop out and it’s hard to get into. Having 16 seeds? That might be interesting. The draw could be more volatile, [with] better matches in the first week.”

But a few months later the GSB shelved those plans stating that “the Grand Slam tournaments have decided there is no compelling reason to revert to 16 seeds”.

But the Zverev-Nadal and Swiatek-Osaka match-ups show there is value in having these clashes early in tournaments.