Let’s put Nole 2019 in hindsight.
- AO absolute peak, semi and final might be the most dominant performance among his 16 majors.
- Madrid, edged out Thiem and beat gassed-out Tsitsipas in the final.
- Wimbleton, escaped from Fed 40-15 two champion points on serve.
- Tokyo, very weak field, didn’t face any top 10 player.
- Paris. Revenge to Tsitsipas, then faced Dimi and green horn Shapo.
I jumped on Nole’s wagon from USO 2007 and think 2019 a very good year, especially considering who he beat in major finals. He couldn’t bring back 2011/2015 peak, but excellent (to me) or at least fairly ok in big match, big points. His 3 match with Thiem were all toss up, would you like to trade Madrid for WTF? I won’t. We don’t know what would turn out in semi/final, if Nole pass Thiem.
To be honest, when the draw was released a week ago, I thought Nole is in better group. We know how Greek and Russian can bring to Nole. After watching Germen beat down Rafa, I felt Nole was really lucky in another group.
If I have to pick something against Nole, he might play too soft/passive against Thiem, and hope his level would drop down. As it did in the third set, Nole dragged the match to tie break and led 3-0. The rest is history. He took lesson from it and play ultra-aggressive against Fed. I couldn’t believe that Nole had no any clue on Fed serve during the whole match, even the second serve. I felt he tried to dictate, or at least neutralize right from ROS, instead of simply blocking back into play. A strategy mistake? Maybe. If match schedule was different, it might have paid off. Still, when Fed brought lighting out serve like that, you can’t expect 40-15 thunder strike twice, right? Any Nole camps want to trade Wimbledon for WFT RR?
2019 is weaker, but more consistent version of 2016. He was far from 2016 1st half peak, but didn’t drop as sharp in 2nd half For myself, his loss to Thiem and Fed is more acceptable than loss to Murray, Agut and Cilic. If you watch those two full matches, you would appreciate what a high-quality matchup they brought to Nole. I’m first tennis fan, second Nole fan, so while I am disappointed with Nole loss, still thrilled by the match quality itself.