Nadal Disadvantaged Against Federer, Djokovic After No. 3 Seeding, Uncle Toni Says

The Wimbledon Championships have a unique place in tennis folklore in terms of prestige and the desire of every player to triumph or sometimes even to just perform well on the hallowed grass of SW19. The third Grand Slam of the year is also unique in terms of their seeding and unlike other tournaments, they do not go according to the rankings but past grass court performances.

The 2019 Wimbledon seeding raised some eyebrows when Roger Federer, ranked No. 3 in the world was seeded No. 2 behind top seed Novak Djokovic while Rafael Nadal, the French Open champion and world No. 2 was seeded third. It makes a big difference when the draws are made as the Spaniard will face one of the big two in the semi-finals if they progress to that stage of the tournament and Nadal’s former coach Toni Nadal was not happy about it.

Djokovic also expressed surprise at Wimbledon’s decision to promote Federer but admitted that everyone has to accept the rules and that if anyone deserved the promotion it was the Swiss ace, who holds the record for most men’s singles titles at SW19. Nadal’s uncle, however, was not pleased and revealed that the seeding formula has put his nephew at a disadvantage going into the latter stages of the tournament.

"The favorites are Federer, Djokovic and Rafael," Uncle Toni, as he is fondly known, said during an interview with Cadena Ser, as quoted on Tennis World USA. "He won the French Open and so he will have an extra confidence.”

“But if you face a big server, you can be beaten already in the first round. If Rafa manages to go through the first week, we will see what happens. The Wimbledon seeding formula is a bit of a disvantage, now Rafa is third seeded."

“But he could meet the Big Three in the semifinals and many times what you plan, does not happen. Facing any other than Federer and Djokovic is better,” he added.

Nadal Sr., who is one of the most successful coaches, also spoke about the younger generation, like Alexander Zverev, Dominic Thiem, Nick Kyrgios and most recently Stephanos Tsitsipas. He admitted that the younger generation, who received praise for the quality of their game, lack “something” to topple the likes of Nadal, Federer and Djokovic, who have dominated the sport for the last decade and a half.

"There will be a time where you will have a final change, but this generation lacked something to go past Federer, Nadal and Djokovic,” Toni said.