It was widely expected that Novak Djokovic vs. Roger Federer would be the night-session match on Tuesday at the Nitto ATP Finals. Of course, they each had to pass their opening tests for that to become a reality.
Instead, it will be Djokovic vs. Dominic Thiem in the Group B winners’ match after Thiem upset Federer 7-5, 7-5 on Sunday. The 26-year-old Austrian now gets a shot at Djokovic for the 10th time in his career, trailing what has suddenly become a competitive head-to-head series 6-3. Thiem lost their first five encounters and 11 of their first 12 sets, but he has since won three of four contests. They most recently collided in this year’s French Open semis, with Thiem surviving a wild one 6-2, 3-6, 7-5, 5-7, 7-5 after four hours and 13 minutes spanning two days.
Although the surface does not favor the world No. 5 this time around, he can’t be discounted based on his recent hard-court form. Three of his five titles in 2019 have come on hards–at the Indian Wells Masters and this fall in Beijing and Vienna. Following his win over Federer, Thiem boasts a 16-4 record during this fall swing.
“The system is pretty brutal, I would say, because I had amazing victory today,” said Thiem, who has never qualified for the semifinals of this event. “I’m feeling great; I’m feeling that I have a good chance to reach the semis. But if I lose on Tuesday, for example, everything is completely open again and I have to worry about everything [in] the next match on Thursday.”
Djokovic was favored to triumph at this tournament for a sixth time when this week began and nothing will change following the opening round-robin contests. The second-ranked Serb trounced Matteo Berrettini 6-2, 6-1 on Sunday, improving to 13-1 since the U.S. Open–a stretch that includes titles in Tokyo and Paris. His reward is a chance to avenge the French Open loss as opposed to a rematch of the famous Wimbledon final against Federer.
“This has been probably his best season, winning at home in Vienna and Indian Wells,” Djokovic said of Thiem. “We know how good of a player he is on clay; he’s been proving that he can play equally well on other surfaces. He’s already (an) established top-five player. We don’t need to talk about his qualities; quality is great. His dedication and professionalism and hard work ethics is fantastic, and he’s a really nice guy. So all positive things about him.”
Although Thiem was outstanding on Sunday, Federer was noticeably flat after taking a fair amount of time off (he skipped the Paris Masters). Djokovic, on the other hand, lifted the Paris trophy and only maintained momentum with his rout of Berrettini. The 16-time major champion is 3-0 lifetime against Thiem on hard courts and should be able to extend that perfection on Tuesday night.
Pick: Djokovic in 2
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WYG?
Thiem in 3. Since Wimbledon, Djokovic kept losing when seriously tested. He’s also under pressure as he doesn’t really afford to lose RR matches (well, unless Rafa also loses today and/or withdraws injured).
Nole in 3. But not all that sure about it!
Great match up….Joker in 3.
Nole in 2/3
here’s the plan:
Thiem knows he doesn’t need to go full throttle against Nole because he will qualify as he’s beaten Roger.
Then, Thiem eventually meets Nole in the final and beats him in 3.
Thiem is not going to tank a match.
Ricky if Federer beats djokovic, Thiem beats berretini and djokovic beats Thiem..each will have 2 wins…who will qualify
comes down to sets and games. Probably Thiem and Djokovic unless Thiem gets completely destroyed by Djokovic.
Well thiem is not getting completely destroyed like berretini was ..fed lost 9 games to berretini vs djoko 3.
And if fed loses to djokovic n Thiem loses to both berretini and Novak..who will qualify .fed or Thiem or berretini
This fuzzy format clears itself up as it goes along. That’s all I know. 🤭
Djoko in 2
wow, Theim in God mode in that return game.
Easily the best patch of tennis so far at the WTF
A pro Theim crowd. Poor Djoker never gets move from the crowd.
This match has so far lived up to expectations.
Omg!! Thiem is blasting the ball
Thiem really seems to be playing inspired tennis right now.
Dominic is a tornado.
And novak is back as thiems balls start flying out
Bad game from Thiem to give back the break. That could cost him the game. You never want to give anything to Novak.
The problem with Thiem, (and all the other non big three players maybe except Medvedev), is that while Djoko can be so clutch at important moments, Thiem just can’t. One more hold of his own service game and he’s most likely to win the match, yet he has to lose serve and then now has to come from behind again! It’s not easy to break Djoko’s serve for a second time, and it’s never easy to play a TB against Djoko!
Looks like Thiem found his clutchness!
A gift from Djoko, hope Thiem is clutch enough this time, when serving for the match! Come on Thiem!
Well Thiem has held his nerve and come back
strong! He breaks Novak and will serve for the match!
Now he needs to keep it together.
Thiem needs just one game. Novak was a bundle of nerves in that 5-5 game. I think this was even bigger and better than what Stan has done to Novak on some occassions.
The next gen FINALLY taking it to the big 3.
Okay, one more game and it is GAME ON!
I don’t believe it! The nerves have kicked in.
Oh my God! Thiem could not buy a first serve. Twice he has let this get away from him. You just can’t do that against Novak.
Thiem feels right now exactly what Fed felt at Wimbledon. Exactly the same. It’s not fair to donate points after working so hard…
Somehow Thiem keeps finding a way to come back. But then he has to finish it.
This is another chance for Thiem to get the win. Can he do it?
WOW!!! Way to go, Dominik! 💪💪💪💪
What a match!! Novak you beauty and dominic you beast!!! Thiem just throws rafa a lifeline for year end no1.. fed can well and truly hand it to rafa in the last rr. About the only time i am going to cheer for fed against the djoker
Haha, I’ve been cheering for Fed throughout this tournament! Go Thiem, go Fed. And, as always, Vamos Rafa!!
Go Thiem!!! Woohoooo!
Okay. I’m happy for Thiem now. Thiem is the power. Well deserved.
Well done, Thiem.
Thiem did it! Finally! Way to go!
Thiem wins finally! Congrats, after all the struggles to contain Djoko. First win on HC over Djoko, not bad! He may be turning into another Stan with his power game, but he’s also picking up on his net game so I think he can play with more varieties going forward. Thanks to Massu, Thiem has really improved a lot this year – 3 wins over Fed, 2 -1 vs Djoko, and 1 – 1 vs Rafa, better than all the other players vs big three this year.
Remember what I told guys…that I expect Thiem to do some real damage. He now beat both of them .
Djoko will now have real pressure on Thursday…he firstly played a very long match n then winner takes it all match n he loses no 1 if he does not win..fed will play loose now n I think fed has solid chance to now upset Novak ..n therefore help Rafa n himself both
N I’m solidly cheering fed on Thursday …he better not botch this up..he has a solid chance now to take revenge on Thursday for wimby n deny Novak the no 1 for snatching the wimby
Fed must take risk, moves to the net often; staying at the baseline will only help Djoko. Berretini made the mistake of not rushing the net until it’s too late when he’s about to lose to Djoko, could have fared better had he rushed the net more often earlier.
To beat Djoko, you have to either overpower him, or play with all sorts of varieties and unpredictability to challenge him.
Thiem makes an elite list of players to beat roger and novak back to back.. Rafa, delpo , davydenko(maybe)
Rafa absolutely has to win the next two matches to keep the pressure on. Hope he is healthy…
Hey man, how are you? If Rafa just wins 1 match, it will put a lot of pressure on Novak (who would then have to win the tourney to get to No.1)
All good Atul:) yeah but even that one match win seems elusive based on how he looked vs Zverev.. i do think he will need a lot of help from others.. either Fed could give him a wedding gift by taking out Nole or maybe zverev or Tsitsi to take Nole out in the semis..
Let us see how he does against Meddy
Poor Rafa, what’s going on man?!!!
Anyway, that was a great match between Novak and Theim, Theim deserved the W. Tired of players serving for the match when playing Novak only not to only lose the game but the WHOLE match!!! Glad Theim reversed that development!!!
Good luck Rafa today!! This WTF seems like its going to be quite exciting!!!
VAMOS!!!
Vamos Roger!!
If Rafa just wins 1 out of the remaining 2 matches, that would mean Novak will have to win the tourney to get to No.1. If he meets this Theim in the finals again, I don’t think he can win.
I really don’t care who gets the no 1. It would be nice for a change if Rafa at least reaches the final here, and win! Y is this tourney such a nightmare for him?!!! I just cant understand that!!! Sigh!!!!
That was painful loss. I realize it was great tennis with a popular ending. And I do like Thiem – he plays an exciting game and he seems like a really good person. He could very well be unstoppable at this point. But that was a crushing loss for this Nole fan 🙁
Couldn’t find a post-match interview from Nole.
Congratulations Dominic Thiem
I have transcript if you want it
Sure I want it. Just to know he’s okay, or not.
Thanks, Ricky.
Ofcourse he will be Elizabeth. It’s not as if he has not faced losses before .the RG semi loss this year to Thiem may be more crushing than this. Don’t worry he will be perfectly fine. It’s just that the Thursday match between both fed n Novak will be high pressure , just that fed has nothing on the line whereas Novak has lot on the line
He’ll be fine, hon. I’m sure he’s very disappointed but he’s a pro. Physically he looked fine, it’s just he ran into a guy redlining his game and doing it very well. And he’s not down and out yet if he beats Roger on Thursday.
https://www.atptour.com/en/news/nadal-djokovic-year-end-no-1-scenarios-2019-tuesday
Rafa has to win at least one rr match to ensure djoko has to win the next three matches to clinch no.1
If rafa wins nothing else, djoko clinches no.1 by reaching the final
Vamos Federer😝
Nole will beat Fed easily in two sets, Fed is old and will be eliminated.
FG
🙂
I’m expecting fed to pull off the upset. He will be hungry to do it
A win over Djoko would be a normal event, not upset. Fed at 38 is still a top3 player and multiple Nitto ATP winner.
Fed and Thiem both hit more winners than Djoko. If he manages to do less UE, he will win no question about it.
Eugene ..please send strong signals to him that he better win the match and bump djoko out. The revenge for wimby can be served and also wedding gift to his dear friend Rafa 🙂
Sanju I hope he wins and Rafa ends this year number 1.
But a potential win here will not fully revenge that painful loss. It would wipe maybe only 10% of it. But yeah, logically speaking chances are quite equal here, considering that Djoko is tired mentally and physically after playing against a brilliant Thiem.
Yes people are underestimating how much the Thiem match may have taken out of djoko physically. He looked exhausted at the end …
Fed relatively is fresher..
Agree it will not erase the painful loss if Wimbledon but if djoko ends number 1, feds record of weeks at no 1 is going to be met soon and I’m sure he does not want that..so he also has a lot at stake to take out djoko..plus all 3 at five year end no 1 better than djoko at 6 and fed at 5.
I hope his staff will remind him about all these details at stake. It is really an important moment, more than just a direct match in London. Those numbers will stay forever..so Fed should really ‘straighten’ his racket. In fact I don’t think he played badly against Thiem…just a bit rusty, but improved vs Berretini.
Oh, yes, I hope the spectators will not be annoying. Contrary to popular belief, the pro Fed fanatism only puts pressure on his shoulders, especially when playing against Novak.
Sanju ure too funny!
Novak has a huge target on his back. lol!! So much is riding on his defeat! Poor kid!