The draw procedures at Grand Slam tennis tournaments make defeating four top-ten players unlikely

At Roland Garros this year, Rafael Nadal achieved the rare event of defeating four top-ten players on his way to the title. Even at the time, it struck me that the rules of the draws make it rare for players to have the opportunity to play four top-ten players in one Grand Slam tournament. Take the US Open's tweet today about defending champion Daniil Medvedev's draw: if the better-seeded players all win, his last four rounds would be against the 16, 6, 4, and 2 seeds. Mostly, only contenders whose round of 16 match could be against the 9 or 10 seeds even have a chance of playing four top-ten players. (Andrew Shields, #111words, 25 August 2022)