need2paint said:
That doesn't sound like a good way to do it. Let say I'm #5 in the world and trying desperately to get into the semi-finals (because I know it will improve my ranking.)
In the QFs, I should theoretically have to play #4 in order to advance to the SFs. But the way the system is now, since it's random draws, I might have to face Nadal or Federer instead, while the guy ranked below me at #7 ends up playing against #4. That doesn't make sense.
Or, there's the other scenario that I can think of. Suppose you have four players - #1, #2, #3, and #4, by ranking.
Now, let's suppose neither 3 nor 4 can EVER beat #1, because he's just that amazing. (A possible scenario - it's pretty close to what we have right now, though Nalbandian at #3 can occasionally beat Fed)
Lets say that #4 suddenly improves, by a lot, so he's actually playing BETTER TENNIS than #3. But will his ranking ever improve? If they seed deterministically, then #4 would always play #1 and lose in the semis. #2 and #3 would always play each other in the semis - lets say sometimes #2 wins, sometimes #3 wins, they have a good rivalry.
But poor old #4 - it doesn't matter how well he plays, even if he's playing better tennis than #3, he'll never get a chance to show that, because he's always going to be playing #1. He'll never get to show that, just like #3, he can ALSO take down #2 occasionally; it doesn't matter. And because in the big tournaments, the ones where all four of the top players show up, he'll never get to the finals, he'll stay at #4. Whereas #3 will always have the easier draw, and thus stay higher-ranked, regardless of which one of them is ACTUALLY better.
Doesn't seem fair to me.
Could be even worse for someone ranked in the low 30s. Suppose we have, say, #30 - he's a pretty good player, he certainly can't hang with the top 10. Now suppose he improves so that he's actually playing as well as the #15 guy. ...but is he ever going to show this? Of course not. Because he'll play someone in the top 5 early in the draw. Heck, in that case, it might even be better to be unseeded! He'd have a better chance of having a good draw if he's NOT SEEDED than if you're seeded low!
With the randomization of the seeding, it guarantees that over a number of tournaments, players will get to play a variety of opponents in the later rounds, giving lower-ranked players a chance to play DIFFERENT players ranked above them, give them a chance to show what they've got both against players ranked just above them and players ranked far above them.