Can you believe it? Rafa getting to the French Open not in the top 4 seeds?
That would be a huge danger for the other top guys. For example if Nole wants to win the 2013 French Open he might have to beat Rafa in the quarters, Murray in the semis and Federer in the final… quite tricky stuff even for the best tennis player in the world.
Rankings and points to defend
After 8 months of inactivity, Rafa dropped to world no.5., he is 1465pts below Ferrer (now world no.4) and he has to defend lots of points before getting to the 2nd slam of the season in Paris.
In fact, the King of Clay has to defend his triumphs in 2012 as he won Rome (1000pts), Montecarlo (1000pts) and Barcelona (500pts). In addition he has also reached the semifinals in both Indian Wells and Miami to collect 360pts for each tournament.
Possible additional points
Rafa may have the chance to add some “fresh points” from Vina del Mar (250pts), Sao Paulo (250pts) and Acapulco (500pts). In addition he can definitely add more points from Madrid as last year he got only 90pts as he lost to Verdasco in the round of 16 (remember the blue clay controversy?)
So if you put everything together, if Rafa wins Vina del Mar, Sao Paulo, Acapulco, Barcelona, Madrid and Rome… he may still struggle to bridge the gap he has with Ferrer to become seed no.4 (we talk about 1465pts).
Rafa is the absolute King of Clay, but winning 6 tournaments back to back at his comeback maybe tricky (but he can)… and that could not be enough…
