Rafael Nadal vs Dominic Thiem (6-4, 6-3, 6-2)
Another day, another French Open title for Rafael Nadal.
Indeed, we might as well rename Roland Garros as the “Rafael Nadal Clay Grand Slam” with how the 32-year-old Spaniard became synonymous with the tournament.
Some fans backed Dominic Thiem to win. After all, the Austrian knows how to take down the World No.1 on clay, having beaten him at last year’s Italian Open and at the Madrid Open last month.
However, as this French Open final results proved, the King of Clay is on a whole different level compared to the 24-year-old Thiem.
Highlights of the game
Nadal had been the hot favourite to win the event after warming up with titles in Monte Carlo, Barcelona and Rome, and he did not disappoint as he made easy work of Thiem who never really threatened in his first Grand Slam final appearance.
Rafa breezed through in straight sets for his 11th French Open title, using his experience, athleticism and shot-making brilliance to wear down the seventh-seeded Austrian.
While he struggled with serves in his opening games against Diego Schwartzman and Juan Martin del Potro, Nadal had a dream start against Thiem as he won the first six points of the match to jump to a 2-0 lead.
Although Thiem battled back and saw off a break point to make it 2-2, he continuously gave Nadal plenty of chances on his own serve, eventually allowing the defending champion to break serve to close the set.
It was the same story in the second frame as Nadal stamped his authority for another 2-0 advantage. Thiem had a chance to cut the lead to just one in the seventh game of the set, but Nadal’s smarts shined bright as he broke his opponent’s momentum with a drop shot before firing a passing shot to make it 5-2.
Nadal won the set when Thiem sent a backhand long and wide.
With the gigantic lead, the title was Nadal’s to lose. However, there were some concerns when he suffered from cramp in his left arm that required treatment, albeit controversially as tournament rules do not allow players to receive treatment for the specific issue.
Nadal held on at 5-2 and served out to finish Thiem’s ordeal.
“It’s amazing now, I can’t describe my feelings,” an emotional Nadal said after winning the Roland Garros trophy. “It’s not even a dream to win here 11 times, because it’s impossible to think of something like this.”
Key statistics
As what the French Open betting odds suggested, Nadal was purely dominant in the contest, winning 71 percent of his service points and 46 percent of his return points. Meanwhile, Thiem only won 54 percent off his service game and 29 percent on returns.
It didn’t help the young Austrian that his usually reliable serve didn’t click well, finishing with only seven service aces. He also ended up with five double faults on top of 42 unforced errors that doomed his chances of staging a comeback.
Besides his poor showing, Thiem acknowledged Nadal’s dominance on clay, saying: “Rafa is too much on clay. It’s kind of like a joke.”
And indeed, the stats also showed that. With the victory, Spain’s Raging Bull is now 86-2 at Roland Garros while winning a record-extending 11 titles—tied with Margaret Court for the most singles titles at the same Grand Slam event.
Court won 11 trophies in the Australian Open in the 1960s and 70s.
More amazingly, in his 11 finals appearances in Paris, Nadal has only lost a total of six sets on his way to an undefeated record.
What’s next?
With 17 Grand Slam titles, Nadal undoubtedly has his sights on matching Roger Federer’s all-time record of 20. Nonetheless, the top-rated star said that he is not that obsessed with matching or even surpassing his great rival.
“You can’t be frustrated if somebody has more money than you, if somebody has a bigger house than you, if somebody has more Grand Slams than you,” Nadal said. “I’ve never been crazy about this kind of stuff. You can’t live with that feeling. You have to do your way.”
“I’d love to have 20 like Roger in the future or more, but it is not something in my mind. I know I’ve had an amazing career so I want to keep fighting for these things.”
Up next is the grass-court season which will culminate at Wimbledon. However, Nadal is up for a tough task as Roger Federer—the defending champion in the grass-court slam—recently returned to tennis at the Stuttgart Open after skipping the whole clay event.
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