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In the next game, Russian Andrej Rublew was defeated by Greek defending champion Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE) after a 1: 6.4: 6.6: 7 (6) match point, thus clearing the way for Thiem.
While the US Open champion Thiem can no longer be displaced from the top two places and at the end of the group “London 2020” on Thursday against Rublew he is no longer under pressure, Nadal also needs a win against Tsitsipas on Thursday to advance to the semi-finals. . .
Last year’s finalist Thiem, after Roger Federer (SUI) and Novak Djokovic (SRB) a year ago in London, also defeated the third superstar on the tennis scene in the ATP season showdown. For Thiem it was the sixth victory in the 15th duel with the Spanish tennis legend. It was the first meeting of the two best 3 players in the hall.
“Everything was fine today”
“Overall it was a great match, everything went well today,” Thiem said cheerfully at Zoom’s video press conference. He is particularly happy with his backhand. He trained this a lot during the crown break. “It’s really worth it now. These are things that make me very happy because you can see how hard work is worth it.”
Even if it was the sixth win in nine losses against 20-time major winner Nadal: it still means a lot to Thiem to win against one of the “big three.” “It is still a great privilege to play against these people because they are simply the three best players of all time,” said Thiem Nadal, Federer and Djokovic Rosen. “The more games I play against them, the better it is for my game, because pairing up with them is probably the best training there is.” Especially since Nadal had a great performance. “These games are worth gold for your confidence in yourself, throughout the game, so it was a good day.”
Thiem has beaten Nadal twice in a row for the first time. After the Australian Open quarterfinals (7: 6.7: 5.4: 6.7: 6) last January, twice in the tiebreaker, it’s five of five tiebreakers against a mentally strong Nadal. “I wouldn’t overestimate that,” Thiem said. “Sure there will be tiebreakers that I will lose. Besides, he was also lucky.
The party was upper-class, balanced and competitive from the beginning. The long rallies, stops and buttresses, as well as not a single break opportunity, meant an almost expected scenario after 57 minutes: tie-break. In this Thiem was 2: 5 behind. He tied at 5: 5, but after a double error at 5: 6 he allowed Nadal’s first set. When Nadal failed to seize his second chance at 7: 6, it was Thiem who won the first round after 72 minutes with 9: 7 in the tie-break.
Break was immediately followed by Rebreak
In the second set Thiem had to fend off the first breakball of the match right at the beginning, at 3: 3 Nadal took his second chance and took Thiem’s serve. Played at this point: already 1:50 hours. But Thiem managed the immediate regrowth after a large rally, which, if allowed, would have ripped the public from their seats. With 5: 4 and 0:40, Thiem had three match balls, which Nadal defended with confidence.
But Thiem put up with that great. “That was relatively easy to digest because he defended himself so well against all three,” Thiem said later. He returned to the tiebreaker. After passing a big setback along the line to make the 4: 3, Thiem won another three match points at 6: 3, and used the fifth.
By the way, he rated his form higher than his win at Flushing Meadows. “To be honest, I think I played a little higher today than I did at the US Open. That was perhaps my best match since the tour restart,” said the 17-time winner of the tournament.
“Perhaps the best three-set match I have ever played”
He didn’t talk about the perfect match, but if he looked for mistakes in this appearance, “then he wouldn’t find many.” He came close to defeating Djokovic in London a year ago. “That was perhaps the best three-set match I’ve ever played.”
And despite his huge increase, especially on hard court, since fall 2019, Thiem still sees enough room for improvement. “I hope so. I still want to improve, and I still have a lot to improve, especially when attacking the net,” Thiem said, adding: “This is my goal for the next preseason.”
Meanwhile, Rafael Nadal was not particularly disappointed. “He played a great game and I played very well too. So I don’t have a bad feeling,” said the 13-time French Open champion, who never won the ATP Finals title.
“A few small details have decided it,” Nadal said, referring to his 5-2 lead in the first set tie-break. And he even got positive ideas from the upper-class match: “I think my chances are even greater to have a very good result here, five days ago. Because my tennis level, even if I lost, is much better.” Nadal will face defending champion Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE) in the final group match “London 2020” on Thursday.
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