Thiem has won it!
Tennis 2019
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) and Imran (@Annihilate Now!) are here to discuss Amad saving our blushes in a win against Southampton as well as our now annual loss at home to Brighton. They discuss Amorim's post-match comments, revisit how mid-table we may or may not be, and discuss some transfer news.
Yesssss!!!
And in a lovely fashion!
Finally!
Good!
Novak deserved nothing out of this match.
Novak deserved nothing out of this match.
Incredible, that he still wins this. I would beat my self to death with my racket after the 40-15 game.
Thiem deserved it overall but that choking shit was creeping in.... Nadal will punish that.
Thiem does it!! Djokovic was just awful serving from that side so you knew he'd have a big chance there.
Anyone who has watched Thiem this year should've known this was entirely possible. Shame he will go into tomorrow tired and probably get clobbered in straights.
Why is Djokovic disliked so much...
I like him. Just prefer Thiem over him (and over Nadal tomorrow).
Thiem says hi.
Eh? He's not had a great clay court season by his stands with some rather strange losses and Novak also beat him in straight sets at Madrid. IW and Barcelona were his only good big tournaments all year. Even first week Thiem at RG was well below standards tbh. However after watching him vs Monfils and Khachanov and watching Novak struggle a bit vs Zverev, I had hope for Thiem here. Djokovic must probably hope he'd faced some stiffer challenges along the way because this was a giant leap in level.
If nadal gets his slam tomorrow, Federer's 20 is in danger. The Spaniard gets one on any other surface and he's pretty much guarantueed equalling Federer's amount since he has at least one more French open in him after this one.
His GOAT status seemed so safe after his second youth a few years back starting with that Australian open win and then two more slams followed. But Nadal and Djokovic are relentless and also still playing hard well into their thirties.
His GOAT status seemed so safe after his second youth a few years back starting with that Australian open win and then two more slams followed. But Nadal and Djokovic are relentless and also still playing hard well into their thirties.
Thiem on clay and RG can not and should be questioned ever. 2 SF and now 2 finals back to back. He really needs to buck up on all the other surfaces though.
His dumb hair.
I fancy Federer's chances at Wimbledon this time. Not many good grass players out there and he's playing good stuff himself.
So Nadal will soon be on 18.
If Federer keeps up his level from the French he'll have a good chance at Wimbledon.
If Federer keeps up his level from the French he'll have a good chance at Wimbledon.
I don't usually dislike him, but he's been a real whiner during this match. Too special to be out in the wind. Meh
Have you been following Thiem this year? He's beaten Federer (x2), Nadal, and Djokovic so far this year (the only one of the four to sweep the other three) and won as many tournaments as any of the others. He has also moved his ranking back up to a career high of #4. He is playing the best tennis of his career, which doesn't mean he will win tomorrow, but I wouldn't count him out.
His record whether 20 or else was always in danger. People forget that Nadal and Nole are 5-6 years younger. They are not Roger's generation. The likes of Hewitt, Safin and Roddick were.
That's true but I don't think anyone expects the likes of Nadal and Djokovic to be viable into their mid to late 30s (35-38 timeframe). Nadal is too injury prone and reliant on explosive movements to stick around for that long.
Yes I have and that's why I found your statement strange. He's had a very inconsistent season with big wins (vs Federer at Miami and Nadal at Barcelona where he was phenomenal) but otherwise he's been very ordinary. Early loss at AO, first round exit in Miami, poor losses when he played in South America and his clay court season was also pretty unspectacular considering he's the second best player on clay. He was great at Barcelona but again very poor performances and losses at MC and Rome. Even his win vs Roger on clay in Madrid was quite the escape and struggle and one he should be winning easily considering Roger was playing his first clay tournament in years and then he lost in straights to Novak.
If you consider Thiem at RG in general or even his performances vs Khacha and Monfils you'd think that yes he's got a good chance to beat Novak but his performances this year have been extremely erratic to say the least.
As for tomorrow, I think he's got a very good chance as he's really finally stepped it up after his poor first week performances.
TBF, no one expected any Tennis player to continue to his mid 30s and win slams, and not just Nole and Rafa. The age of retirement in Tennis was like around 32 or 33, and I think players rarely won GS after 30. Sports medicine and health sciences progressed much. Add to this the incredible talent and athelticism of Roger, Rafa and Nole and we can now understand what we are witnessing. I don't think the age of retirement will ever go back to early 30s and winning slams won't be limited to the 20s. Expect future players to even beat the GS record of any of those 3 legends.
Same in football and many other sports. The progress of science in medicine, healthcare and physiotherapy will help players push the limits even further.
He improved his ranking from 8 to 4 so far this year and will probably get to three at some point. Can't do that by being inconsistent. He has at a minimum been as effective as the top three this year, if not more.
That really doesn't say much because they've not been hugely consistent themselves. Djokovic dropped off in level quite a bit after the AO and only seemed to get back in some form by Madrid and Rome, Fed had a poor AO and then was good on the hards but didn't make a single semi finals at all on clay and Nadal himself was injured post the AO and then had an average clay season till Rome.
As for why he's jumped up to 4th despite not defending his points in most of the tournaments he's played this year is how bad the people 5-10 have been themselves. Tsitsipas was poor (after AO) in the North American swing and only back in form on clay in Madrid and Rome. Zverev has been crap all year, Del Po just recently got back to playing, Kei has been rubbish, Isner and Kevin Anderson have been out with injury.
So yeah his jump in rankings has been pretty much by default and Thiem has had quite an inconsistent season so far. He lost in R1 just a week before RG as well
That really doesn't say much because they've not been hugely consistent themselves. Djokovic dropped off in level quite a bit after the AO and only seemed to get back in some form by Madrid and Rome, Fed had a poor AO and then was good on the hards but didn't make a single semi finals at all on clay and Nadal himself was injured post the AO and then had an average clay season till Rome.
As for why he's jumped up to 4th despite not defending his points in most of the tournaments he's played this year is how bad the people 5-10 have been themselves. Tsitsipas was poor (after AO) in the North American swing and only back in form on clay in Madrid and Rome. Zverev has been crap all year, Del Po just recently got back to playing, Kei has been rubbish, Isner and Kevin Anderson have been out with injury.
So yeah his jump in rankings has been pretty much by default and Thiem has had quite an inconsistent season so far. He lost in R1 just a week before RG as well
So basically everyone at the top of the rankings has been inconsistent, which effectively renders the inconsistency argument completely pointless.
Women's final just fading out to nothingness here.
All I've said and continue to say is that there is no way that anyone who actually watched Thiem play all season would think he's going to beat Novak based on his performances this season. Based on past performances at RG? Yes. Based on Thiem this year? No.
I've watched him and knew he had a chance given that he'd already beaten him, along with Nadal and Federer (twice) coming in. Based on those results alone, it was pretty easy to see he would fare well at RG.
Novak beat Thiem in straight sets the only time they've faced each other this year.
Thiem is from Lower Austria like myself (and Melzer) so it is great to see him play and beat the big boys.
Yeah just saw that. Still losing a couple of tiebreakers to the world number one would hardly be classed as being inconsistent, especially after he's already beaten Nadal and Federer within months.
A bit of a sad final for women. No energy anywhere, fans or players. And it looks to be very noncompetitive.
He lost to Verdasco in R1 at Rome and Lajovic in R2 at MC. I was quite surprised and disappointed by Thiem's level through the clay season. Tsitsipas actually ended the clay season in the best form after Novak and Rafa.
There's no one exciting in the women's tour at the moment. The era of Clijsters/Henin, the Williams sisters in their prime etc it was quite interesting, but now? Meh.
Thiems made the final. He was a bit shaky at the start but has worked himself into form. Would be foolish to say he hasn’t got a chance tomorrow. He’s got a small chance, but that also requires Nadal to drop his level.
Last years final was closer than the scores indicate. It was a matter of some big moments where Rafa came out on top. Thiem in the second week here is playing at a higher level than he was playing last year and his serve has really improved as well. He's got a chance for sure.
I like Thiem so even if Rafa does lose, I'd not mind him losing to Domi. Nice guy and total pro.
Roland-Garros record: 92-2...
Is any other sportsman or woman, or team, in any other sport comparable to this record?
Just silly.
Is any other sportsman or woman, or team, in any other sport comparable to this record?
Just silly.