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Rafael Nadal suffers major French Open blow after Alexander Zverev loss


Rafael Nadal has suffered a major blow ahead of the French Open after his defeat to Alexander Zverev means he will not be one of the two top seeded players in Paris. 

Despite a promising start to his Madrid campaign, Nadal was defeated in straight-sets for the third consecutive time against the German star, on this occasion 6-4 6-4.

Nadal’s shock exit at the quarter-finals has had significant repercussions, with the Spaniard no longer able to occupy one of the top two seeds at Roland Garros. The 13-time French Open champion could therefore face arch rival Novak Djokovic at the semi-final stage.

Despite featuring in Rome next week, Nadal will not be able to add any more ranking points as the Spaniard won the event in 2019, whilst Daniil Medvedev lost in the first round in 2019 and did not feature last year.

As a result, the Russian, who is currently 150 points ahead of Nadal on the ATP rankings, cannot lose any points in Rome and will therefore take the number two seed in Paris.

If Nadal decides to play another tournament ahead of Roland Garros, which is not planned and also highly unlikely, the Spaniard could steal pinch the second seed.

This significant blow to Rafael Nadal will certainly benefit Dominic Thiem, who is set to avoid the Spaniard before a potential repeat of the 2019 French Open final.

However, Nadal has been here before and with success.

In 2017, Nadal was fourth seed behind Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic and Stan Wawrinka, with Nadal beating the Swiss convincingly in the final to claim his 10th French Open title.


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Tim Farthing, Tennishead Editorial Director & Owner, has been a huge tennis fan his whole life. He's a tennis journalist and entrepreneur as well as playing tennis to a national standard. He also helps manage his local club and volunteers for his local tennis organisation. He's a specialist in content about the administration of professional tennis and tennis coaching for all levels.