How Many Players Should Be Seeded?
For years, only 16 players were seeded in the Grand Slams, 128 main draw, singles tournaments. Several years ago, the Grand Slams, i.e. Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon and U.S. Open decided to seed 32 singles players. Under this seeding scheme, the higher-ranked players are “protected” from facing a potentially dangerous player, e.g. the 17th ranked player in an early round. However, by seeding the 17th-32nd
ranked players, there appear to be fewer dramatic and exciting matches featuring top-ranked players versus “dangerous floaters” in early rounds. Therefore, it’s a trade-off in terms of protecting the higher-ranked players so that they have a better chance to reach the later rounds while fans potentially miss out on an exciting early round match… not that one wants to see more top seeds upset! At the 2008 Australian Open, 7 out of the top 16 seeded men made their seeding and 9 out of the second 16 seeds reached their seeding. For the women, 10 out of the top 16 seeds reached their appointed round while 10 of the second 16 reached their seeding. This data would indicate that many of the seeds deserve their spots. Nonetheless, seeding only the top 16 is more in keeping with the ratio of seeds at other non-Slam tournaments and makes being a seed at a Grand Slam a greater accomplishment. Progress is usually positive, but this is a change that might be worth reviewing...
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