Whether or not Nadal gets no.2 or not, it still boils down to draws & if he has to face either Thiem or Novak in SF & then have to play the other in final, it’s highly unlikely he defends title like last year when he faced a fatigued Shortman in the SF. The trend shows that, but for his first FO & FO13, every one of his RG final victories came after easy straight set SF's.
Thiem and Nadal have played 13 sets at Roland Garros.
Nadal has won 12 sets.
Thiem has won ONE set.
So Thiem is a non-factor at Roland Garros.
And Djokovic is even weaker, because last year everything was in Djokovic's favor at Roland Garros (that is why most tennis journalists tipped Djokovic to win), and Nadal won 60 62 75.
So both those losers are non-factors at Roland Garros.
You can make Nadal play Thiem in R1, R2, R3, R4, QF and SF, and he still won't make Nadal tired enough to lose to Djokovic in the Final....because Djokovic isn't good enough on clay anymore, and that is why Nadal has dropped a total of ONE set vs. Djokovic in their last 4 clay meetings (in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020) and guess what the score was in that match that Djokovic won a set in? 6-0 46 61.
Djokovic's career is OVER at Roland Garros.
And Thiem is past his prime already on clay.
Nadal is the future at Roland Garros.
And nothing can be done about that.
Nadal has won the last FOUR French Opens.
To put that into perspective.....Djokovic has only won ONE of the last FIVE US Opens.