Novak Djokovic and Dominic Thiem will be squaring off for the eighth time in their careers when they clash in the semifinals of the Mutua Madrid Open on Saturday afternoon.
Djokovic is leading the head-to-head series 5-2, but that hardly tells the real story heading into this showdown. They have split four career clay-court encounters and Thiem has won two in a row at the world No. 1’s expense. The Austrian prevailed 7-6(5), 6-3, 6-0 in the 2017 French Open quarterfinals and 6-7(2), 6-2, 6-3 last spring in Monte-Carlo.
This has all the makings of their most intriguing matchup to date. Thiem now finds himself near the top of the sport, which was not the case while he was compiling a 0-5 record against Djokovic in the earlier stages of his career. The Serb, meanwhile, is back at the very top after being a shadow of his former and now-current self when he lost to Thiem at the 2018 Monte-Carlo Masters.
The second-best clay-courter in the world behind Rafael Nadal over the past few seasons, Thiem finished runner-up at both the Madrid Masters and Roland Garros last year. Could he be even better on the dirt in 2019? The world No. 5 recently triumphed in Barcelona–upsetting Nadal in the process–and so far this week he has ousted Reilly Opelka, Fabio Fognini, and Roger Federer. Thiem fought off two match points against Federer on Friday before scoring a 3-6, 7-6(11), 6-4 victory.
“The test today was huge and tomorrow is a different game, of course,” the fifth seed explained. “But I was playing Novak last year and two years ago, and he was not at his best, I guess. Now he is again. He’s won the last three Grand Slams and he is at the top of the ATP rankings again. So the challenge couldn’t be bigger.”
It’s a big one, but not the biggest; obviously a potential final against Nadal would be an even tougher test on paper. After all, the jury is still out on Djokovic–who struggled after dominating the Australian Open from start to finish. The 31-year-old suffered early exits from Indian Wells, Miami, and Monte-Carlo, bowing out to Philipp Kohlschreiber, Roberto Bautista Agut, and Daniil Medvedev, respectively. Madrid’s top seed advanced earlier this week with straight-set defeats of Taylor Fritz and Jeremy Chardy before getting quarterfinal walkover from Marin Cilic.
“Marin is a top player and he’s a good friend of mine and he did text me saying he got some food poisoning,” Djokovic noted. “So I really hope he’s going to recover for Rome. On my side, I tried to warm up and prepare for the match and then I went back on the court, trained for another hour, and got a good sweat in. (I’m) happy that I’m going to be fresh for my semifinal match-up tomorrow.”
Fatigue, though, should not be a problem for Thiem. It never has been throughout his career, and he has spent no more than five hours and 15 minutes on court in three Madrid matches despite his battle with Federer.
On this surface and in these conditions, it would not be surprising to see a confident Thiem out-serve and out-hit Djokovic from the back of the court.
Pick: Thiem in 3
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Oh god if nadal wins against tsitsipas..I wonder after ao mauling, what shape n mental frame will he be to face djoko…not sure whether I want rafa to win today or not fearing a djoko rematch tomm (:-
I’ve wondered the same thing, Sanju… However, there is no denying that Rafa getting a win over Novak before RG would be MASSIVE for his confidence. And could there be a much better place for Rafa to play novak right now? I know that Rome suits Rafa’s game better than Madrid, but he wouldn’t necessarily have the crowd fully on his side if he played Novak in Rome. In Madrid, they would be 100% behind Rafa. Two years ago was going into their Rome matchup, even though Novak was coming back from injury, he had beaten Rafa the previous 7(?) times they had played. But Rafa came out and blew him off the court. Now we have a somewhat similar situation where, while it isn’t 7 straight, Rafa has lost their last two matches in heartbreaking fashion, but Novak has not been in very great form since AO. Similar to 2017, Madrid could be Rafa’s chance to get things back on track against Novak. At this moment, I have no idea who I would pick if there was a Fedal Roland Garros Final or SF. But if they meet in the Madrid Final, then that outcome would definitely help sway my decision.
What I’m trying to say is that, if Rafa overcame a 7 match/3 year losing streak to Djokovic in Madrid, then I see no reason why he can’t overcome that crushing AO loss in Madrid on Sunday.
If Rafa is not going to overcome his demons on clay then there is no hope elsewhere. Hoping rafa can make the final.
Good win for Djokovic. Neither player was at this best, imo. Thiem particularly didn’t play like he did yesterday against Fed and looked a bit tired to me. The shots and serves he was hitting the lines against Fed weren’t falling, often weren’t close, against Novak. All the drop shots in the 1st set also had me scratching my head. They weren’t that great, for a start, but a much better strategy would have been coming into net.
Novak is still not back to his AO form. He played some great tennis today, but missed a lot of shots that he wouldn’t normally miss. What he does, and what will trouble his opponent in the final, is consistently hit with incredible depth. This was actually a good workout for him and should put him into good shape for the final.
Joe Smith, Thiem plays hit or miss tennis. Yesterday was a hit today was a miss. That’s all there is to it.
Novak isn’t playing his best yet was able to beat this confident Thiem…and this victory sure raises Nole’s confidence for the finals…as I said before, the only opposition Rafa is to fear at RG is Novak and nobody else. Yeah, he can be tested by someone like Thiem but beaten – that’s just highly unlikely…
One match at the time…Rafa still needs to beat Tsitsipas to reach the final, but if he manages to get to face Nole I am not overly optimistic..I still think Rafa has to improve more and Madrid is not his favorite clay…and if Rafa goes with his mental blockade when seeing Nole on the other side of the net, which I fear the most,!then the outcome will definitely not be in Rafa’s favor…
Rafa needs to trust himself more…he needs to respect himself more than his opponents…
Vamos Champ!
I cannot believe what I’m watching! From being sublime yesterday, Rafa is down to ridiculous today! What on earth is going on?