Dominic Thiem beating Rafael Nadal on clay is nothing new. After all, Thiem accomplished that feat in each of the past two seasons.
Current form, though, suggested there was no way it would happen again on Friday at the Mutua Madrid Open. But it did.
Lightning struck for a third time as Thiem pulled off a 7-5, 6-3 upset during quarterfinal action, becoming just the third player ever to beat Nadal at least three times on clay. The seventh-ranked Austrian broke Nadal’s serve an incredible five times while winning 66 percent of his second-serve return points and prevailing after one hour and 56 minutes.
Highlights:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-05EpxHpW98
“I had to play an extraordinary match, and that’s what I did,” Thiem commented. “It takes a really good match to beat Rafa on clay, but I think a very important thing was that I went in with the attitude that I can beat him. Obviously, two weeks ago in Monte-Carlo he killed me love and two. It was very important I went into the match with a positive attitude–with an attitude to win.
“I moved well; I was physically tough. But always against him, there are long rallies. You get out of breath. My groundstrokes were the best; they were very aggressive. I think I really hurt him with them…. I didn’t make too many stupid errors. That was important.”
“Of course I’m upset,” Nadal said. “I tried to come back. I tried to do it a couple of times, but I wasn’t good enough today. He was better than me today, that’s the end of the story. Some days you don’t play as well as you’d like to play. Also, when that happens, it’s because your opponent is doing really well. I just want to congratulate him; that’s all.”
Only Novak Djokovic, Gaston Gaudio, and now Thiem have defeated Nadal at least three times on clay. Djokovic has done it on seven occasions, while Gaudio–the 2004 French Open champion–and Thiem each own three such victories over the Spaniard.
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big deal for Thiem. not a big deal for Nadal.
True. Rafa had losses on clay in every year after his undefeated 2010. He lost to Djoko, Verdasco, Ferrer, Almagro, Foggy, Murray, Stan, Thiem (Cuevas if we include SA clay) since, quite a long list. However, each time he went on to win at the FO except 2015/2016 when he had his worst years.
Hmm. Good for Thiem’s self-esthiem.
He might have enough to get to the final here. Would help if Anderson has a bad serving day, tho.
Rafas saving himself
Yes he did it, well done D. Thiem 😂👊.
That’s a great win for Thiem, and actually good for the ATP tour in general…it’s good to know that he CAN be beaten if you play incredibly well….gives other players hope….and kudos to Rafa for just saying, “he played better than me”…always the class act!!!
Yeah, D. Thiem was incredible.
Nny!…http://sport360.com/article/tennis/281138/carlos-moya-not-worried-about-roland-garros-plans-after-rafael-nadals-loss-to-dominic-thiem
I find it strange that Rafa would feel so nervous about meeting Thiem at Madrid. He had already broken John Mac’s record when he beat Diego; he had beaten Thiem convincingly at MC.
Perhaps he’s nervous because he knew his FH and serve weren’t working well at Madrid, he couldn’t have a good feel or good control of the balls here at Madrid, and maybe defending the no.1 ranking had taken its toll on him.
I hope Rafa won’t feel so nervous the next time he meets Thiem, probably at Rome in the QF again. Rafa has the tendency of feeling less confident when facing someone who has beaten him before.
MA,
Thanks so much for that! I really like reading Moya’s thoughts. He does know Rafa so well. I love how he realizes that at some point he will lose. I never thought he would go undefeated. I knew it would happen at some point and thought that it was more likely to happen at Madrid.
I also like how Moya talked about Rafa being nervous in his warm up. So he was feeling the pressure. Moya is calm and matter-of-fact about it.
I say better now before RG.
😍
Nny!…You’re very much welcome!…hehe..i knew u loved reading anythings about Moya!…I also not surprised that Rafa lost at Madrid…He gave the sign even before he play his 1st match…
We all know how he don’t like the fast condition at Madrid..and it will only take a simple reason for his nervousness to appear & if he can handle it..he will win..if not…Things like ‘Thiem’ happened…He’s been able to handle it last year…but not this year…But,i think if they meet again in Rome,i’m pretty sure Rafa will win…his confidence will be back coz he feels comfortable with the court…Also,like Lucky said.the pressure of defending his No 1 & winning streaks r over….so,maybe his mental fatigue eased a little…
This too Nny!….https://www.express.co.uk/sport/tennis/958714/Rafael-Nadal-Madrid-Open-Dominic-Thiem-Rome-Masters
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ovNAz3Zxzb4
Thiem was just amazing, Rafa played his very best but Dominic had all the answers and his confidence didn’t fade.
MA,
Love it! That is SO Rafa! His sense of humor is wonderful!
Thanks!
😘
Hehehe….You’re welcome Nny!
That looks like hard work for Thiem standing so far back to return Anderson’s serve, but it worked the first set – just barely. This could be a long match.
I don’t think it’ll be a long match judging by how Anderson losing his first service game in each set. Thiem just needs to hold serve for the rest of the set and he’ll get his win.
Both just hit and serve as hard as possible but Anderson looks more one dimensional; he’s not going to beat Thiem from the baseline so must think of something else.
Don’t understand why that Anderson serves his best when he’s about to lose the match. Why can’t he serve this way right at the start of each set? What’s the point now?
Well has to congrats Thiem for reaching another Madrid final. The clay here suits his big hitting game, overpowering his opponents along the way. Let’s see it’s Zverev or Shapo that he’ll meet in the final.
Strange that his big hitting game doesn’t help him on the HCs; his results on the HCs are quite poor for a top ten player.
Yeah I agree, congrats to thiem for reaching another Madrid finals.
He defeated F. Delbonis and B. Coric in 3 sets but he smoked Rafa in straight sets as well as K. Anderson.
The second time is a charm oops 🤣.