So this year’s French should be interesting. The king of clay goes for #22, but he has some serious competition. Djokovic is back and trying to tie Nadal and become the first ever 3-time career slammer. That would be interesting enough, but to add to it there is this 19 year old (Alcaraz) who just recently beat BOTH of them on clay.
Yeah, it's crazy that arguably the three best claycourt players would all be scheduled to face off before the final. Tsitsipas and Medvedev have to be loving the draw.
It's a bit jarring to see Nadal as a 5 seed on clay, but between all the injuries his ranking has suffered a bit.
Hopefully we get to see a Djokovic vs Nadal matchup and then a Djokovic/Nadal vs Alcaraz semifinal.
I have a friend who is in Paris this year, I believe she lucked out with her ticket draw and if it the Nadal/Djokovic quarter final happens, she will be in the stands.
As for that expected match-up….not happening now, as Warinka lost. I think he is still coming off an injury and is not at his peak. But another difficult matchup for Nadal could be Fognini, who seems to raise his level when he plays Nadal (and the two don’t seem to particularly like each other).
It is very frustrating to see the three to whom you refer all on the same side. I think Wimbledon often tweaks the rankings to adjust for grass court abilities. I think the French Open should do the same.
I believe Wimbledon is the only Grand Slam that does this. All the others simply rely on computer rankings. I recall during Sampras' Wimbledon dominance, he wasn't #1 in the world anymore towards the end, but the committee still (justifiably) seeded him at the #1 spot. (2000-2001; he won in 2000, but lost in the 4R in 2001). All other Grand Slams don't do that, though.
I'm still bitter about the 2019 Federer loss to Djokovic in the Wimbledon final: 13-12 in the 5th...Garh! Fed won four more games, 14 more points, +15 in Aces, +40 in winners, better first serve %, better first serve winning %, better second serve winning %, more breaks, more receiving points won, etc. etc. How did he lose that match?!?!? I guess it's by losing three tiebreaks...
Agree with you on adjusting rankings to take into account special circumstances; lost point opportunities over the past year due to injuries, ability on the specific surface, etc. But even then, tennis, unlike most other sports I can think of, allows for the randomness of placing seeds in a draw. The #1 seed, for instance, has just a good of chance to play the #5 seed in the quarters as they do the #8. So, unless they made either Nadal or Alcaraz #2, they could still meet Djokovic (assuming they kept him at #1) in the semis, or earlier (case in point this year). I like the randomness of the way tennis does it, but I'm used to it. I could certainly see why it would bother others (note, Toooold, this is not directed at you).
Good 3rd round match up tomorrow between the American Korda and Alcaraz. Would think on clay Alcaraz would be too tough to beat, but a buddy told me Korda beat him last time they played (not sure the surface). And don’t look now but Greensboro’s own John Isner is in the third round. Would not have bet on that happening.