In the four Grand Slam tournaments in 2019, there will be only 16 instead of 32 seeded tennis pros. This was decided by the Grand Slam Board in London.
The new system is designed to make the first rounds in Wimbledon as well as the Australian, French and US Open more attractive, as top players will be able to play against strong competitors in the past. In 2001, the US Open had succeeded in expanding the seed list from 16 to 32 players, mainly at the insistence of TV stations. The broadcasters wanted to make sure that as many stars as possible were present in the later rounds.
At the beginning of the 2017 season, however, Roger Federer had shown that a win outside of the 16 best seeded players was possible: The Swiss had entered the Australian Open in 17th place, and had defeated rivals Tomas Berdych, Kei Nishikori, Stan Wawrinka and Rafael Nadal on his way to the title, who at that time were in the world rankings and in the tableau.
During last week’s ATP World Tour Finals in London last week, Federer said he was open to a return to just 16 seeded players. Jimmy Connors, the American legend, had called for this a few years ago.
Right now, Andy Murray’s critical position in the rankings – if the change were to take effect in early 2018, the two-time gold medal winner would be the last lawmaker in the field. John Isner and Lucas Pouille, who are just behind Murray, would have to fear that they would have to face one of the favourites at the start. But even for the latter, it is no pleasure to play against players of the caliber Isners or Pouilles. But that’s exactly what makes the abridged seed list so appealing.