Nadal needs to get some first serves in. Thiems been shaking on serve but he’s also been as shaky.
Tennis 2020
- Thread starter Mrs Smoker
- Start date
For all the talk of Nadal's improved serve, what's the point if it absolutely doesn't work in a tie break. He doesn't get any first serve when needed.
Wow Thiem fell down and still won the point.
Thiem on the ground and Rafa still loses the point. He's just not good enough today.
Jesus Thiem. I think Rafa will end up gifting it to him probably.
Holy shit if he had lost that challenge 
Wow good backhand by Thiem. Now can he take it.
Thiem will have nightmares about that shot forever if he doesn't win
And Thiem does it.
Hope either he or Zverev wins it
Hope either he or Zverev wins it
Don’t know why the commentator is on about changing of the guard. A bit disrespectful to Nadal who lost three tie breaks. On another day he could have won, but Thiem played the bigger points better.
Djokovic is about 90% certain to take this AO, same for Nadal with the French, but both Wawrinka and Nadal losing today does feel like a changing of the guard moment.
Does it? Wawrinka has been blowing hot and cold since injury.
Nadal lost three tie breaks that on another day could have gone his way. If they beat Djokovic/Fed then you could say maybe changing of the guard, but then they would need to reach semis and finals regularly.
That final point was pretty apt really. Open court shot with Thiem out of position and Nadal dumps it in the net. He was not good enough at the ATP Cup and he wasn't good enough here.
Hope Domi wins the entire thing now.
Hope Domi wins the entire thing now.
Also AO usually tends to have surprise finalists or semi finalists.
Last year exact same thing was said about Tsitipas when he beat Fed and he really didn’t back it up in the slams after that. A few years ago it was said about Chung and he has not been seen since
Last year exact same thing was said about Tsitipas when he beat Fed and he really didn’t back it up in the slams after that. A few years ago it was said about Chung and he has not been seen since
Beating Nadal in a Slam when he’s uninjured and world no.1 is always a great achievement, and you need a bit of luck for that if you are not Djoker/Fed. The Zverev of a couple of years ago would crumble after dropping that first set to Stan as well.
I’m not saying they will win this tournament, or even any Slam this year, but it feels like finally the old guard’s (except Djoker) level has dropped enough for the younglings to close the gap on a good day, that wasn’t the case a couple of years ago.
Fed had a terrible Slam run by his standard prior to that loss, losing from 2-0 up at Wimby against Anderson, then got dumped by Millman at USO. He also had a close match against Tsitsipas he barely won prior to the tournament.
Chung beat a Djokovic in limbo and Tennys Sandgren who was outside of top 100 at the time. Both Thiem and Zverev have now reached the SF beating seeded players. They also have Master titles to their names. There are reasons to believe that with more experience and a taste of winning, they are more ready to challenge than in 2017.
Feck, I sound like Raoul.
Susprising result.
Djokovic has got this one.
Djokovic has got this one.
It’s Nadals worst slam in terms of performance. He’s taken more drubbings from players here when not injured.
It’s too early to say Nadals level has dropped as he just won 2 slams last year and the draw was not exactly kind to him. He plays Thiem whilst Djokovic plays Raonic who has been injured for years and Fed plays a journeyman, who had 7 match points and couldn’t convert any of them with Fed on one leg.
Thiem played his best yet still had to win three tie breaks to win it, which like penalty shoot outs can be lotteries. He turned up on the big points, Nadal did not. He had a few net calls. On another day, Nadal could have taken it too it was small margins rather than some changing of the guard. If Thiem had demolished Nadal 6-1, 6-2 and 6-3 then yeah you could say maybe it’s changing of the guards.
But anyway we not talking about some unknown guy. Thiem has been troubling Nadal for years just people remember the French open games. If you look at the other clay games he causes Nadal problems on his main surface, so of course he is capable of beating him on other surfaces. Nadal does not like playing him one bit. He makes Nadal play extra shots that only Djokovic does. He annoys Nadal like how Nadal annoyed everyone with his defensive skills.
I hope he wins it, but I do not see it because Djokovic is stronger than Nadal mentally. Thiem tends to choke on some big occasions and Djokovic is the best at not letting players off when they do that.
Also taking three sets off Djokovic here in current form is like taking three sets off Rafa at the French. You have to have a game of a life time like Wawrinka did a few years ago and hope Djokovics level has dropped.
You left out that Fed is 38 and should be long retired.
But seriously, why would Stan have anything to do with a changing of the guard ? He hasn't been top 10 in a few years.
Played well enough to reach the quarter in his strongest Slam, beating the world no.4 in the process.You left out that Fed is 38 and should be long retired.
But seriously, why would Stan have anything to do with a changing of the guard ? He hasn't been top 10 in a few years.
But it’s more about Zverev not succumbing his mental fragility rather than Stan.
If you actually catch him play in this tournament it wouldn’t be a surprise
Also Nadal and Fed are playing exhibition match in March. Just think its madness with Olympic year that both are playing exhibition. I know it's for a good cause, but they better off doing that when they retired. Fed played in like 7 different countries in 8 days last November. Not really good for your back with all that travelling.
Nadal should skip one of IW and Miami. Just be refreshed for clay where he can gain a lot of points this year as he lost a lot of points there last year besides Rome.
If Djokovic wins it he will be number 1 also. Which probably will annoy Nadal further as all that effort towards the back end of last season when he should have rested after the US open to come back as he was carrying injury to then have the worst possible draw as number 1 for AO. It was not really worth it in the end.
Nadal should skip one of IW and Miami. Just be refreshed for clay where he can gain a lot of points this year as he lost a lot of points there last year besides Rome.
If Djokovic wins it he will be number 1 also. Which probably will annoy Nadal further as all that effort towards the back end of last season when he should have rested after the US open to come back as he was carrying injury to then have the worst possible draw as number 1 for AO. It was not really worth it in the end.
The exhibition match thing is getting blown out of perspective. In an exhibition match neither player is going 100%, it's all a lot of fun and like a slightly extended training session. Multiple competitive games within a few days in tournaments have consequences on the body, that's why Federer and Nadal have rightly skipped quite a few in the last few years. Except for an instant injury an exhibition match does not change a players endurance for bigger tournaments.
They still have to travel there. Play on a different time zone and then travel again. Travelling 7 different countries in 8 days, when you have a history of back injuries isn’t really idea. It’s all hectic considering they should be looking to shorten the tournaments they play not add to them especially when they have the olympics to play also this year.
The same with the Davis cup, I am surprised Nadal even played in that dead format when most the top players did not even bother. It should be merged with the ATP cup. Don’t see the point of both tournaments being separate.
Also Laver cup is supposed to be exhibition yet Nadal picked up injury there last year. So yes they can pick up injuries in exhibitions. These guys do not like losing whether it’s exhibition or not.
Nadal's was never going to win with the draw he was given anyway
Just now watching Nadal/Thiem highlights...
Honestly Thiem could win this entire thing, and actually it would be good to see someone else stepping up. So bloody strong he is. Impressive.
Honestly Thiem could win this entire thing, and actually it would be good to see someone else stepping up. So bloody strong he is. Impressive.
Come on Federer
Hoping Federer is fit and makes a match out of it. Djokovic needs to be pushed.
Hopefully Novak gets this done in 5 sets and then loses to Thiem in the final.
I reckon Federer will surprise a lot of people with how competitive he is here.
Djokovic with break points.
But Fed from that 17 shot rally moving well, so encouraging this could be a contest.
But Fed from that 17 shot rally moving well, so encouraging this could be a contest.
Novak will likely win but Fed has less pressure. He really should have been out. Hope Fed wins.
Novak misses 2 BP in the very first game. Looks like he's going to be about as efficient as the last match
cracking first game
Novak misses 2 BP in the very first game. Looks like he's going to be about as efficient as the last match
Calm down.
Feds getting aces in when he needs to and Fed has one of the best serves in the game so he should be happy to get break points.
Also again last game he was playing Raonic who had not been broken in the tournament before he played Djokovic and faced like 6 breakpoints. Djokovic made his serve like a joke when it isn’t. Yeah he did not break every time, but it was impressive what he did to Raionics serve.
Fed breaks.
Wow! Let’s go!
Federer breaks. I'm not surprised. He plays really well vs Novak and he doesn't look remotely injured right now.
Neither can serve well right now. Novak breaks back.
Yeah his returning has been top class. I think we'll see a number of breaks in this set. Neither is looking particularly comfortable on serve so far.