Legendary tennis coach Brad Gilbert believes the top two seeds deserve a little more protection at Grand Slams as he suggested tournaments make a slight change in the draw guidelines.

Current tennis regulations state that the top seed goes into the top half of the draw while the second seed headlines the bottom half, meaning they can’t meet before the final of the event.

The third and fourth seeds are then randomly drawn in either the top half of the bottom half, meaning they can only meet one of the top two seeds in the semi-finals.

But it is a “free for all” for seeds five to eight as they are randomly drawn in the quarter-final positions and the top seed could potentially meet the fifth seed in the last eight while the second seed could have an easier draw and face the eighth seed.

However, former world No 4 Gilbert has advocated for a change in the draw from the round of 16 as he believes it should be predetermined that the top two seeds face the players who are seventh and eighth.

The debate was started by tennis analyst Gill Gross as he discussed the current ATP Rankings with Taylor Fritz and Alex de Minaur tied on points 4,135.

“What happens when two players are tied? How is seeding determined?” he started off.

“The first tiebreaker is most total combined points at Slams, Masters and ATP Finals.

“Fritz: 2,760
“Demon: 2,650

“So Fritz is your current No. 6.”

The rest of the top 10 of the ATP Rankings sees Carlos Alcaraz (12,050) lead Jannik Sinner (11,500) and they are followed by Alexander Zverev (5,160), Novak Djokovic (4,830), Felix Auger-Aliassime (4,245), Fritz, De Minaur, Lorenzo Musetti (4,040), Ben Shelton (3,970) and Jack Draper (2,990).

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Gilbert replied to Gross’s post on X with the following: “No difference between 6-7 seed in slams or big @atptour tournaments ️ as they go in groups of 4 from rd of 16 on, should be 1-2 vs 7-8 instead of 1-2 vs 5-8 in quarters, should never be 1 vs 5.”

no difference between 6-7 seed in slams or big @atptour tournaments ️ as they go in groups of 4 from rd of 16 on, should be 1-2 vs7-8 instead of 1-2 vs 5-8 in quarters, should never be 1 vs 5

— Brad Gilbert (@bgtennisnation) November 23, 2025

There is no doubt that the American’s proposed change would benefit the top two seeds as if the draw for the Australian Open was made today, then Alcaraz would face Musetti in the round of 16 while Sinner would take on De Minaur.

But then again, Alcaraz and Sinner have beaten all before them at the Grand Slams the past two years so facing a fifth-seeded Auger-Aliassime or an eighth-seeded Musetti won’t bother them too much.

In terms of the current WTA Rankings, Aryna Sabalenka (10,870) and Iga Swiatek (8,395) will go into the top two slots for the draw with Coco Gauff (6,763) and Amanda Anisimova (6,287) randomly placed in either the top half or the bottom half.

Elena Rybakina (5,850), Jessica Pegula (5,583), Madison Keys (4,335), Jasmine Paolini (4,325), Mirra Andreeva (4,319) and Ekaterina Alexandrova (3,375) complete the top 10.

As for Gilbert’s suggestion, Sabalenka would face Paolini in the round of 16 and Swiatek would take on Keys instead of running the risk of facing Rybakina.