John McEnroe says Rafael Nadal should be No. 1 seed at French Open

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tusharlovesrafa

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John McEnroe doesn’t think the French Open will adjust its seeding system to bump up seven-time champion Rafael Nadal. But he does believe it’s the fair thing to do, not just for Nadal but also for his primary competitors.

Nadal, ranked fifth, is racing to secure the No. 4 seed by the time the French Open sets its seeds on May 20 after the Rome Masters. He trails Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Andy Murray and David Ferrer, whose opening-match loss at the Barcelona Open on Wednesday improved Nadal’s chances of overtaking the fellow Spaniard for No. 4 at Roland Garros. If Nadal isn’t among the top-four seeds, he could face any of those four players in a potential quarterfinal.

“Let me put it to you this way: I guarantee you that none of those four guys, as great as they are, want to see him in the quarters,” McEnroe told Tennis.com. “Quite honestly, I would seed him number one. … think he deserves that. I think the other players deserve it.”

McEnroe said Djokovic is the only player who merits consideration to be seeded ahead of Nadal. Djokovic, who is seeking his first French Open title, defeated Nadal in Sunday’s final of the Monte Carlo Masters.

I recently debated the issue of Nadal’s French Open seeding with Ben Rothenberg of The New York Times. My take: The French tennis federation should not alter its system to boost Nadal’s ranking.
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Lets see what happens!!!:)
 
Seeding in slams should be based more on performances in prior fiscal year events on the same surface, than on rankings across all surfaces.
 
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Quite simply the answer is no. Djokovic has earned the right to get the number one seed, and if Nadal takes his number and gets an easy run to the title, while Djokovic gets a far tougher route, then there will be lost of controversy.

Djokovic is ranked number one, and deserves his number one seeding.

Nadal being given fourth seeding is a better solution.
 
Hitman said:
Quite simply the answer is no. Djokovic has earned the right to get the number one seed, and if Nadal takes his number and gets an easy run to the title, while Djokovic gets a far tougher route, then there will be lost of controversy.

Djokovic is ranked number one, and deserves his number one seeding.

Nadal being given fourth seeding is a better solution.
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So nole has 'earned the right' to be seeded according to his ranking but ferrer hasn't?

Seriously guys, introducing all this subjective bollocks into the seeding process is just asking for trouble.
 
As great as he is, Mac is just saying this to attract attention to himself, like everything else he does. Any FO draw means nothing to Nadal: Whether he is seeded 1 or 5, he will still most likely still slice through the draw like it's nobody's business.
 
batz said:
So nole has 'earned the right' to be seeded according to his ranking but ferrer hasn't?

Seriously guys, introducing all this subjective bollocks into the seeding process is just asking for trouble.
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Personally I prefer they don't mess with the seeds, that is what I would do, just leave it. But if they are going to do this, and break tradition, then it has to be the lowest ranked of the four to cause the least amount of shuffling at the top. Again, I don't agree with it, but no way should Djokovic not get that number one seed.
 
Hitman said:
Personally I prefer they don't mess with the seeds, that is what I would do, just leave it. But if they are going to do this, and break tradition, then it has to be the lowest ranked of the four to cause the least amount of shuffling at the top. Again, I don't agree with it, but no way should Djokovic not get that number one seed.
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Everybody relax.

The RG organizers will not change his seeding.

Irrespective of whether he is seeded 4th or fifth, he will be in Ferrer's quarter (or vica versa).

Irrespective of his quarter he will not be in Djokovic's half.

The only thing, that will keep the suspence alive, is whether his good friend Daveed, will just hand in the number 4 ranking seed, or will fight for it (again, not that it matters).
 
mcenroe never won french open as he lost to lendl in lendl frist break through at slams, before the french open win lendl was consider choker

so mcenroe has no right to tell the world about the french open seeding
 
Ferrer needs to lose points to ensure rafa/**** is at least 4th seed in the event of the anti rafa mob that populate the FF decide not to bump up rafas seeding,

it would be a patriotic act by Ferrer and the King of Spain (King midget the 3rd) would be most pleased.
 
I agree.

I don't think it's the fact that Nadal will get a tough draw: Nadal will probably slice through anyone at the FO.

The problem is a "higher seed" will get knocked out much sooner than they should have to because of this seed problem.

Taking it to the extreme, if Nadal was out for much longer and got ranked outside the Top 50, would ANYONE be happy if he faced Murray/Djokovic/Federer in the first or second round? It wouldn't be fair to anyone
 
batz said:
So nole has 'earned the right' to be seeded according to his ranking but ferrer hasn't?

Seriously guys, introducing all this subjective bollocks into the seeding process is just asking for trouble.
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Very well said.

I see that even reasonable posters are becoming biased when it comes to Nadal. I don't mean Hitman.

Changing the seedings to accomodate one player is just bias and it's highly unfair to Ferrer no matter however someone sugar coat it. Ferrer earned the points the hard way.
 
adil1972 said:
mcenroe never won french open as he lost to lendl in lendl frist break through at slams, before the french open win lendl was consider choker

so mcenroe has no right to tell the world about the french open seeding
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McEnroe was a professional tennis player for most of 15 yrs..he was at the top of tennis for a lot of that time too,

McEnroe can say what ever he feels like saying..his point of view is always interesting even if folk don't always agree with it.
 
Joseph L. Barrow said:
While I agree with McEnroe that Nadal should be the number one seed, the French Open almost definitely won't abruptly alter its seeding system at the last minute on account of one guy.
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Right, so all the hard work the top four has put should be ignored on whims and fantasies of some fan boys.

So let us have Roger Federer number one seed for Wimbledon and US open since his record there is better than anyone in the tour now.
 
Polaris said:
As great as he is, Mac is just saying this to attract attention to himself, like everything else he does. Any FO draw means nothing to Nadal: Whether he is seeded 1 or 5, he will still most likely still slice through the draw like it's nobody's business.
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This is the truth
 
Feather said:
Right, so all the hard work the top four has put should be ignored on whims and fantasies of some fan boys.

So let us have Roger Federer number one seed for Wimbledon and US open since his record there is better than anyone in the tour now.
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that not it though,

Federer wasn't injured for half the season and his he has been level with other players at wimby the last few years since 2007 (nadal 2w, djokovic 1w, fed 2w)

but nadal has dominated RG winning 7 of the last 8..no one else is near his level on clay like Federer has had at wimby as I just stated..

having Nadal who has won 7 titles, seeded below 3 blokes with ZERO TITLES between them (djoko/murray/ferrer) is just mental.
 
batz said:
So nole has 'earned the right' to be seeded according to his ranking but ferrer hasn't?

Seriously guys, introducing all this subjective bollocks into the seeding process is just asking for trouble.
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Eh?

Nothing subjective about it, Nole is number one so he's seeded first.

The RG organizers shouldn't let a player be first seed just cause his name is Nadal regardless of actual ranking.
 
Hitman said:
Quite simply the answer is no. Djokovic has earned the right to get the number one seed, and if Nadal takes his number and gets an easy run to the title, while Djokovic gets a far tougher route, then there will be lost of controversy.

Djokovic is ranked number one, and deserves his number one seeding.

Nadal being given fourth seeding is a better solution.
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Basically how I see it.

Anything else is biased baby back bullsh!t.
 
Legend of Borg said:
Eh?

Nothing subjective about it, Nole is number one so he's seeded first.

The RG organizers shouldn't let a player be first seed just cause his name is Nadal regardless of actual ranking.
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I think you'll find we're in violent agreement.

The subjectivity comes into play if rafa is seeded anywhere other than where his ranking says he should.
 
^^^^^^^Come to think of it: for this reason it's probably better Murray is seeded 3 for RG. That loss to Wawrinka at MC was probably a stroke of genius on the part of the Murray/Lendl dynamic duo. Always one step ahead of us.
 
if djokovic and the nadal are in the same quarter, it would greatly improve the chances of a denadalization of the draw in the QF... why would they want to deprive us from this pleasure ? :-?
 
Polaris said:
As great as he is, Mac is just saying this to attract attention to himself, like everything else he does. Any FO draw means nothing to Nadal: Whether he is seeded 1 or 5, he will still most likely still slice through the draw like it's nobody's business.
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Yep. That's all this is. McEnroe is famous for it. This is why I like McEnroe sometimes when he's commentating and puts his bias aside, but he says the most idiotic things when he goes a long time without hearing himself talk and being in the public eye. This is even more ridiculous than what Forget said which I obviously don't agree with either. Taking the #1 seed away from Djokovic who has beaten Nadal pretty consistently over the last 2 years on EVERY surface? Seriously? Was he high when he did this interview?

And it's not Ferrer's fault Nadal got injured. It's Nadal's. Everybody should really stop complaining about the logic of giving Nadal the 4th seed because of his injury and/or how bad Ferrer plays against Nadal. It really doesn't matter. And in the case of the clay season there are enough tournaments to do the draw by seeding so it doesn't matter how many RG titles Nadal has. You can argue with me until you're blue in the face, but it will never change the fact that it really does not matter how many RG titles Nadal has given that clay is well represented on the tour. I don't care if he has a thousand or more. It's about being fair to the guy that works the hardest, not the one that was injured for 7 months because his own body fails him. That's the harsh truth of all this.
 
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Polaris said:
FO draw means nothing to Nadal: Whether he is seeded 1 or 5, he will still most likely still slice through the draw like it's nobody's business.
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No argument there. Nadal's health is a question to some, but if he's even at 70% of his best, he should crush the FO field.
 
THUNDERVOLLEY said:
No argument there. Nadal's health is a question to some, but if he's even at 70% of his best, he should crush the FO field.
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lawl..some people on here provide the bestest entertainment evah.

Let me remind you that broken-ankle Nole just straight-setted your boy on clay just recently. So 70% Ralph will likely decimate the field? :confused:
 
adil1972 said:
mcenroe never won french open as he lost to lendl in lendl frist break through at slams, before the french open win lendl was consider choker

so mcenroe has no right to tell the world about the french open seeding
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And I suppose you do? If you can have an opinion, certainly Mac deserves one as well? BTW, what are your credentials compared with Mac?
 
Remember McEnroe also claimed Nadal was a better volleyer than Federer... just because you have three Wimbledons it doesn't make you the expert on everything. :p
 
Hitman said:
Quite simply the answer is no. Djokovic has earned the right to get the number one seed, and if Nadal takes his number and gets an easy run to the title, while Djokovic gets a far tougher route, then there will be lost of controversy.

Djokovic is ranked number one, and deserves his number one seeding.

Nadal being given fourth seeding is a better solution.
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Judging by the way Ferrer is playing I think Nadal will be ranked #4 after Rome anyway. Which is just fine because none of the other 3 will be able to play him in QF if he's #4 seed.
 
MonkeyBoy said:
^^^^^^^Come to think of it: for this reason it's probably better Murray is seeded 3 for RG. That loss to Wawrinka at MC was probably a stroke of genius on the part of the Murray/Lendl dynamic duo. Always one step ahead of us.
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Federer's not going to be able to hold onto the #2 rank because Murray has zero points to defend in Madrid while Federer is defending champion and they're only 100 pts. apart. And Murray's only defending 90 pts. in Rome. So I'm hoping Fed falls the #3 and Nadal makes it back to #4 and then they can't possibly face each other till the final.
 
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malbaker86 said:
How do you know that Ferrer worked harder than Nadal?
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Maybe because he was on the tour playing tournaments. I'm sure Nadal worked hard to get back, but I'm talking about the man that played more competitive ATP level tennis to surpass Nadal in the rankings, and that was obviously Ferrer. Don't ask stupid questions you should already know the answers to.
 
ivan_the_terrible said:
lawl..some people on here provide the bestest entertainment evah.

Let me remind you that broken-ankle Nole just straight-setted your boy on clay just recently. So 70% Ralph will likely decimate the field? :confused:
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1: Djokovic's recent physical problems pose a long term problem which will undermine his efforts at the FO, particularly in the late rounds (when the battles get rough)--if he makes it that far.

2. This is a major--and Nadal's best, so he will pull out all of the stops in a way he will not smaller events. That's how those who won majors tend to think.
 
John McEnroe can say whatever the hell he wants he's an ex player but he's just a lot of hot noise. Novak Djokovic deserves the top spot because he's number one he also reached the French Open final last year.

The real issue is, should Nadal be the number 2 to 4 seed I think that is where the controversy is going to be.

I believe Andy Murray should be PUSHED DOWN not David Ferrer. Ferrer beat Murray last year and reached the semifinals he is a better clay courter than Murray.

I can see the French Open organizers pushing Federer down to 3 and giving Nadal the number 2 seed.
 
batz said:
So nole has 'earned the right' to be seeded according to his ranking but ferrer hasn't?

Seriously guys, introducing all this subjective bollocks into the seeding process is just asking for trouble.
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Exactly, that's not fair to David Ferrer why should he get pushed down in seeding? I think Andy Murray or Roger Federer need to be moved down to make space for Nadal. Andy Murray is not as good as Ferrer or Federer on clay everyone knows this.
 
Wait a minute. Is he saying that none of the top players would want to risk losing to him in the quarters and that's why he should be seeded higher or that he needs to be seeded higher so that he doesn't lose earlier in the brackets (i.e. if he was to face one of them in the quarters and lose)?

I don't think there should be any considerations for Nadal and here's why.

Serena was ranked way below what she should have been ranked and was defending champion at a few Slams and I don't remember her getting any special treatment (oh my god, did I just use Serena to defend an example here? :shock:)

Bottom line is, ANY and ALL players in pro tennis must maintain a properly high ranking level in order to get the perks of playing highly seeded at any tournament they attend. You cannot go out, win just the Slams (4 of them each year) and then complain because you're ranked below the top 5 in the world even though you're winning all 4 slams each year all the time (this is just an example, not like anyone is doing that). But you have to play all the other tournaments as well if you want more points.

This is no different than everyone complaining that Woz had all those points a couple of years ago from all the base tournaments to make her #1, but she wasn't considered a #1 seed at Slams because she didn't hold any of those titles.

The point system is there for a reason... it should not be used to play favorites!!!
 
Yes A M, Murray has never even played a final on clay. Novak was last year's RG finalist and he's just won M-C. No way to bump him down sorry. It would be a scandal if they touched either Djoko or Fed imo, given their past record on clay. Murray #2 on red clay however, I'm sure even he would find that funny.
 
Amelie Mauresmo said:
John McEnroe can say whatever the hell he wants he's an ex player but he's just a lot of hot noise. Novak Djokovic deserves the top spot because he's number one he also reached the French Open final last year.

The real issue is, should Nadal be the number 2 to 4 seed I think that is where the controversy is going to be.

I believe Andy Murray should be PUSHED DOWN not David Ferrer. Ferrer beat Murray last year and reached the semifinals he is a better clay courter than Murray.

I can see the French Open organizers pushing Federer down to 3 and giving Nadal the number 2 seed.
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LOL let that Murray hate flow. Murray will very likely be 2nd seed at RG and SW19. I suggest you dry your eyes and deal with the world as it is rather than how you wish it was.
 
batz said:
LOL let that Murray hate flow. Murray will very likely be 2nd seed at RG and SW19. I suggest you dry your eyes and deal with the world as it is rather than how you wish it was.
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There is no way Andy Murray is getting the number 2 seed at the French Open he doesn't deserve it. Murray hasn't even won a clay court title it would be a disgrace for the FO organizers to seed Murray so high.
 
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