Andy Murray feels the decision not to give Rafael Nadal a seeded spot was 'fair' as he wasn't sure what kind of precedent that would set going forward.
Roland Garros has been synonymous with Nadal's career as he has won an incredible 14 major titles in Paris.
That earned him the moniker of the 'King of Clay' for his career and the 2024 tournament was potentially going to be his last.
Nadal admitted 12 months ago that retirement was on the horizon as he continued to battle with his injury issues.
But his lack of tennis has seen the Spaniard drop down the rankings and out of the seeded places.
Andy Murray supports the decision not to give Rafael Nadal a seed
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He entered the French Open with his protected ranking, but that wasn't enough to make him one of the top seeds.
That put Nadal at risk of a difficult first-round match and that's what he was given as he was drawn to face world No 3 Alexander Zverev.
Murray was asked about Nadal's seeding status ahead of his French Open first-round match against Stan Wawrinka.
"I think it's fair," Murray said.
"I think the Wimbledon stuff was slightly different because lots of players wouldn't play any grass court tennis and would kind of arrive there having not played any matches.
“There were periods where a lot of top clay courters didn't even bother playing Wimbledon.
"So I think it's different now. I think the vast majority of players commit to the majors and the Grand Slams and look the way the draw works, I mean bad luck for Rafa."
He added: "I think the way the seedings work, I think it's appropriate and in this case it's unfortunate how that's happened.
"I don't know how you gauge where someone should and shouldn't be seeded based on past or previous success.
"It'd be quite hard to do that and then there be a question under the players that are ranked 32 in the world, is it unfair on them.
Rafael Nadal faces Alexander Zverev in the first round
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Murray is also potentially playing his last French Open, although the three-time Grand Slam champion has hinted he's not made any final decision just yet.
“When the time is right, I will stop. I don’t know if I will play past the summer,” he said.
“The results I have been having are not what I would want. But the mentality around whether it’s with my racquets and rehab or whatever, it’s always to try to get better.
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"Is there anything that you can do that might help and influence some results or not? I have to wait to see whether it’s a good decision for me or not. It’s something that I wanted to see whether it could make a difference.
“I know they are different things but you wouldn’t get a golfer using the same clubs that they came out with 25 years ago. A Formula One car is not going to be the same today as it was 25 years ago. For some reason, tennis is a sport where players are always reluctant to change.
“I felt like now is the time to see whether it can make a difference. I felt like it was something I wanted to try. I don’t want to finish my career thinking: ‘Should I have given it a go to see whether or not that was something that could have potentially helped me’. I have really enjoyed it as well. That’s probably helped me a bit the last few weeks as well.”
