Andy Murray comments on Rafael Nadal's unseeded status at Roland Garros

Andy Murray commented on Rafael Nadal not being seeded at the French Open. The Spaniard will have a tough debut against 4th seed Alexander Zverev in his return to Roland Garros after two years. The last time they faced each other was in the semifinals of the tournament in 2022, when Zverev retired due to injury in the tie-break of the second set.

Nadal has an extraordinary record at the French Open of 112-3 (97.4%) and has claimed the title 14 times, numbers unmatched by any player at any Grand Slam. Due to his achievements at Roland Garros, there were suggestions that he be granted a seeded spot, something that ultimately did not happen.

Between 2002 and 2019, Wimbledon implemented a formula to determine seeded players based on their individual performance on grass courts during the previous two years. Since 2021, the organization decided to use the official ATP and WTA rankings to determine the 32 seeds.

Considering Nadal's situation, who is currently world No. 275 and entered with a protected ranking, he was unable to secure a seeded spot, which 3-time Grand Slam champion Andy Murray considered fair: "I think it's fair. I think the Wimbledon stuff was slightly different because lots of players wouldn't play any grass court tennis and would kind of arrive there having not played any matches.”

“There were periods where a lot of top clay courters didn't even bother playing Wimbledon. So I think it's different now. I think the vast majority of players commit to the majors and the Grand Slams and look the way the draw works, I mean bad luck for Rafa."

"I think the way the seedings work, I think it's appropriate and in this case it's unfortunate how that's happened. I don't know how you gauge where someone should and shouldn't be seeded based on past or previous success, it'd be quite hard to do that and then there be a question under the players that are ranked 32 in the world, is it unfair on them," he added.

Murray added that while it is unfortunate for Nadal, the seeding system is fair for everyone: "If they have been playing the whole year to achieve that ranking to miss on a seeding. So I think it's bad luck what's happened this time but the seedings are fair."