Rafael Nadal should be seeded 1 or 2 at French Open despite lower ranking, feels John McEnroe's brother Patrick

Patrick McEnroe is of the opinion that Rafael Nadal should be seeded in the top 2 at this year's French Open despite being ranked outside the top 10 at the moment.

Nadal is yet to play a match since his second-round elimination at the 2023 Australian Open, where he suffered a hip injury. The Spaniard recently announced his withdrawal from the upcoming Madrid Open as well.

John McEnroe's brother Patrick, a former doubles Grand Slam champion himself, spoke about Nadal's participation in the French Open on his podcast "Holding Court with Patrick McEnroe." While Nadal usually likes to play matches to get ready on clay, McEnroe feels the 22-time Slam champion may not need to do so this time.

"The question about Rafa is much dodgier. We don't know if he's gonna be ready. We've seen some video of him practicing. Normally he likes to play a lot on clay to get himself ready. He's the kind of guy that needs matches but does he really need that many matches at this point in his career?" Patrick McEnroe said (in a now-deleted episode).

"If he's physically fit, that's the number one thing for him, because he can play his way into the French (Open). In the first couple of rounds, he usually steamrolls people. That gets him court time, that gets him out there for a couple of hours at a stretch," he added.

Turning to Nadal's ranking, McEnroe said that the French Tennis Federation should at least place him among the top 4 seeds, if not 1 or 2. But the American admitted that this was unlikely to happen given that Roland Garros allots seeds based only on ranking.

"He's dropped down to like 15 in the rankings. That will be another interesting thing. The French Federation who makes the draws and the seedings, they've always gone by the rules, the rankings. When Rafa faced Djoker in the quarters, I didn't like that but they're not going to change," Patrick McEnroe said.

"If they didn't change last year, I can't imagine that they're going to put Rafa as the one or two seed, which I personally think they should, at least top 4, because now, unless he goes on some run in these clay-court tournaments, which is looking unlikely based on how many he's going to play, he's going to be well outside the top 10 come time for the Roland Garros. So that is the biggest question mark that we all want to have an answer for," he added.

Rafael Nadal has won just 1 match in 2023

Rafael Nadal in action at the Australian Open 2023

Rafael Nadal has played just four matches so far in the 2023 season, winning only one. He lost both of his matches at the inaugural United Cup, against Cameron Norrie and Alex de Minaur.

The Spaniard was seeded first at the Australian Open and reached the second round after beating Jack Draper 7-5, 2-6, 6-4, 6-1. He then suffered a 6-4, 6-4, 7-5 defeat to Mackenzie McDonald.

After missing the tournaments in Monte-Carlo, Barcelona and Madrid, it's yet to be seen if Nadal will compete at the Italian Open, which starts on May 8.