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Dominic Thiem Y Rafael Nadal he played an impressive match in the group stage of the 2020 ATP Finals, and once again he showed what tennis has to offer.
by Nikolaus Fink
Last edit: November 17, 2020, 8:58 pm
© Getty Images
Not much tennis could be seen in 2020 for known reasons. From mid-August, the ATP tour resumed after a break of almost six months and, from the Austrian point of view, Dominic Thiem’s tournament victory at the US Open gave reasons to be happy again after a few weeks.
What the many tennis fans offered themselves in front of the televisions on Tuesday afternoon at the London O2 Arena surpassed, from a purely playful point of view, what was shown in New York by far. “I think I played at a higher level than I did at the US Open today. It was perhaps my best match since the restart,” Thiem said.
Thiem: “One of the best matches”
This statement from Lichtenwörther was no accident: he and Rafael Nadal played fantastic tennis at all times, one sensational point after another. It was almost a shame that the Austrian knew how to avoid a third set of this tennis show.
7: 6 (7) and 7: 6 (4) was after 2:25 hours of play from Thiem’s point of view. “It was definitely one of the best games of my career. I think it was close to the second group game against ‘Nole’ a year ago,” Thiem said. Exactly twelve months ago, the Austrian defeated Novak Djokovic in the ATP Finals – with two differences from the match against Nadal: the match against the Serbian was decided in a third set – and that in front of the spectators.
One thing is certain: if the two protagonists had played in front of the fans on Tuesday, all hell would have broken out. At the latest when Nadal irresistibly destroyed three of his opponent’s match points in the second set and also put them to 5: 5 thanks to a tweener.
A time when many players would have broken. Not so Thiem. “Honestly, that wasn’t a problem at all. Of course, I was a little nervous because I had a chance to win the match. But he scored three outstanding points. I didn’t award the match points, he fought them. So I couldn’t. nothing, “said the 27-year-old.
Thiem is based on Djokovic
So a little later there was another tiebreaker, which Thiem, like the previous four, won against Nadal. “I wouldn’t exaggerate the fact that I won the last five tie-breaks against him. There will surely be some again that I will lose. There was also a lot of luck with that,” Thiem referred to the first round. in which he made a deficit of 2: 5 and then defended himself from two set balls.
But strength in difficult situations is not entirely casual. He took Novak Djokovic as an example and did not want to make more simple mistakes, especially in the tiebreakers, Thiem said. “Since I had this attitude and concentrated on it, I have also had a good record,” said the world number three, referring to his 10: 1 stat in short decisions against the top ten players this year.
Nadal confident despite defeat
Nadal suffered half of these “playoff losses”. The Spaniard did not want to give too much importance to this statistic: “I have no idea why this happened. I cannot find the reason. I hit some balls in the tie-break when I had the advantage. But I have all things well done in this match. “.
For the winner of 20 Grand Slam, it’s already about surviving in Thursday’s ATP Finals against Stefanos Tsitsipas. But after the performance against Thiem, Nadal is optimistic that he will be promoted: “If I play like this, I am sure I will have my options in this tournament.”
The possibility of playing a very good event is now greater than five days ago, Nadal explained: “Now I am much more satisfied with my level and I have the possibility to continue.” Maybe even until a rematch with Dominic Thiem is on the show next Sunday. It would be a balm for the battered soul of the fans, and probably another ode to tennis.
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Thiem Dominic Nadal Rafael