Facing Thiem rather than Djokovic was better for Rafael Nadal - Uncle Toni

A

ABCD

Hall of Fame
In a column for El Pais, Rafael Nadal's uncle Toni admitted that facing Dominic Thiem was better than facing Novak Djokovic in the French Open final. The Austrian defeated the Serb 7-5 in the fifth set on Saturday. Nadal' coach Francis Roig also admitted that facing Thiem was better.

"Let's not lie. The Novak Djokovic's loss in this year's French Open to Dominic Thiem made us a bit happy", wrote Toni. "And not because the Austrian's tennis gives less fear than the Serb's, but because a loss to Novak would have been more powerful for Rafael.

I think the reasons are clear. Novak makes Rafa struggle. On the other side, it's very easy to appreciate Dominic. Both his family and him are always very well educated. Rafa said they are good people, so on the day that the young Austrian lifts the tournament, we will be happy for him.

On Sunday it was a high-intensity match between two classical clay specialists. From my side, although in the beginning, my nephew was dominating, his shots were not powerful enough. But breaking on 2-3 in the first set gave him a mental boost.

That was the first key moment. The second moment was when after losing the second set, Rafael asked to go to the bathroom. He used that moment to regroup, think what was going bad. When he cameback, he showed to have clear ideas on how to deliver his game.

Now due to the many statistics around, you do not think about the mental side and on that aspect, Rafa was stronger than Dominic. Now he comes back home and we have to think about the next goal, starting to think about Wimbledon."
 
True Fanerer said:
You start.
Click to expand...
Beating Fed in semi was really important for Rafa, much more than beating Thiem or Djokovic in final.
Fed is just so great, making to semi not playing RG for 10 years is like he won it.
He has best backhand on tour.
And he walks like true goat. Nobody walks like him.
EasyGoing said:
It is actually about the Slam race. He says it is much more important that Nole is denied the chance to gain ground on Rafa, or vice versa (Rafa pulling away).
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Could be. As ABCD said, google translate is not happiest choice for interviews.
 
ABCD said:
In a column for El Pais, Rafael Nadal's uncle Toni admitted that facing Dominic Thiem was better than facing Novak Djokovic in the French Open final. The Austrian defeated the Serb 7-5 in the fifth set on Saturday. Nadal' coach Francis Roig also admitted that facing Thiem was better.

"Let's not lie. The Novak Djokovic's loss in this year's French Open to Dominic Thiem made us a bit happy", wrote Toni. "And not because the Austrian's tennis gives less fear than the Serb's, but because a loss to Novak would have been more powerful for Rafael.

I think the reasons are clear. Novak makes Rafa struggle. On the other side, it's very easy to appreciate Dominic. Both his family and him are always very well educated. Rafa said they are good people, so on the day that the young Austrian lifts the tournament, we will be happy for him.

On Sunday it was a high-intensity match between two classical clay specialists. From my side, although in the beginning, my nephew was dominating, his shots were not powerful enough. But breaking on 2-3 in the first set gave him a mental boost.

That was the first key moment. The second moment was when after losing the second set, Rafael asked to go to the bathroom. He used that moment to regroup, think what was going bad. When he cameback, he showed to have clear ideas on how to deliver his game.

Now due to the many statistics around, you do not think about the mental side and on that aspect, Rafa was stronger than Dominic. Now he comes back home and we have to think about the next goal, starting to think about Wimbledon."
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Err Tony confirming Rafa's bathroom break was strategical ? Also, it's obvious Djokovic in a GS F is much more menacing. After all he is Rafa's greatest rival , and after a beatdown in AO final nobody in their right mind would prefer Djokovic in a important final.

In fact reading the article it seems Tony hints at it only as he doesn't want to undermine Thiem.

But nevertheless No doubt @ABCD didn't wait to read the the article . The title was enough for him and his agenda.
 
Raining hopes said:
Err Tony confirming Rafa's bathroom break was strategical ? Also, it's obvious Djokovic in a GS F is much more menacing. After all he is Rafa's greatest rival , and after a beatdown in AO final nobody in their right mind would prefer Djokovic in a important final.

In fact reading the article it seems Tony hints at it only as he doesn't want to undermine Thiem.

But nevertheless No doubt @ABCD didn't wait to read the the article . The title was enough for him and his agenda.
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Relax you don't have to go Into attack mode. He just posted an article. An interesting one.

I said when Djokovic lost Rafas team will probably host a party and would you know that is exactly what they did.
 
RF-18 said:
Relax you don't have to go Into attack mode. He just posted an article. An interesting one.

I said when Djokovic lost Rafas team will probably host a party and would you know that is exactly what they did.
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Nah he posts a lot of " interesting "articles and quotes. But yes I should not have been harsh.



Of course I am agreeing with you here, like I said in my previous post, Djokovic is THE guy to beat. And as he proved in AO when he brings his best, Rafa or Roger don't have much hope.


Maybe on clay that dynamic is different but Rafa would have definitely doubted himself much much more before the final if Djokovic was on the other side. Thiem isn't on the same level
 
Raining hopes said:
Nah he posts a lot of " interesting "articles and quotes. But yes I should not have been harsh.



Of course I am agreeing with you here, like I said in my previous post, Djokovic is THE guy to beat. And as he proved in AO when he brings his best, Rafa or Roger don't have much hope.


Maybe on clay that dynamic is different but Rafa would have definitely doubted himself much much more before the final if Djokovic was on the other side. Thiem isn't on the same level
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And Nadal proved much more times that when he is at least decent in RG he beats everybody there, including Djokovic.
 
Truth is Djokovic ran away from Nadal in RG for 3 straight years now. Ok, I can get that this year Thiem was simply better-if he wasn't so mentally weak he would have won that semifinal much easier. However, in 2017 it was very strange when Djokovic absolutely destroyed Thiem in Rome and then suddenly got destroyed himself in RG.
 
Raining hopes said:
Nah he posts a lot of " interesting "articles and quotes. But yes I should not have been harsh.



Of course I am agreeing with you here, like I said in my previous post, Djokovic is THE guy to beat. And as he proved in AO when he brings his best, Rafa or Roger don't have much hope.


Maybe on clay that dynamic is different but Rafa would have definitely doubted himself much much more before the final if Djokovic was on the other side. Thiem isn't on the same level
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I think it is interesting how Rafa and his team go out publicly and express how much they don't wanna play Novak. Even at RG. I don't know what benefit they are getting.

The weather and scheduling screwed Novak over and his chances big time. I know Thiem faced the same problems but the hurricane conditions did more damage to Djokovic. And of course the weather was perfect in the final.. Nevertheless no matter the conditions would have been a tight match against Thiem anyhow but atleast Djokovic would have been able to play his game and not Pete Sampras.

With the way Djoko was playing throughout the week I'd give him a good shot against Nadal. He had also preserved alot of energy by winning easy. So he set it up good.
 
StrongRule said:
Truth is Djokovic ran away from Nadal in RG for 3 straight years now. Ok, I can get that this year Thiem was simply better-if he wasn't so mentally weak he would have won that semifinal much easier. However, in 2017 it was very strange when Djokovic absolutely destroyed Thiem in Rome and then suddenly got destroyed himself in RG.
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Truth is Nadal was lucky with the scheduling, draw, weather, pretty much everything went his way. Acknowledge that instead of saying Novak ran away when the tournament did everything to screw him over.
 
RF-18 said:
Truth is Nadal was lucky with the scheduling, draw, weather, pretty much everything went his way. Acknowledge that instead of saying Novak ran away when the tournament did everything to screw him over.
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Last year Nadal was the unlucky player with all that and yet he beat Thiem in straight sets in the final. Nadal won RG 12 times not thanks to luck. He lost only one match there when in decent form or better. And how exactly was Djokovic's draw tough this year? It was very easy until the semifinals. Only the semifinal itself was tougher than Nadal's.
 
RF-18 said:
I think it is interesting how Rafa and his team go out publicly and express how much they don't wanna play Novak. Even at RG. I don't know what benefit they are getting.

The weather and scheduling screwed Novak over and his chances big time. I know Thiem faced the same problems but the hurricane conditions did more damage to Djokovic. And of course the weather was perfect in the final.. Nevertheless no matter the conditions would have been a tight match against Thiem anyhow but atleast Djokovic would have been able to play his game and noy Pete Sampras.

With the way Djoko was playing throughout the week I'd give him a good shot against Nadal. He had also preserved alot of energy by winning easy. So he set it up good.
Click to expand...

Nadal is a confidence player. And Rome proved that he has huge lack of that against Djokovic.

Trust me, had Novak came out of the gate free flowing in a would be final, Nadal would atleast have to work hard to over his doubts against him.


I was extremely disappointed with his attitude in the Thiem match. Why didn't he just accept whatever condition there was ? It wasn't as if he could change the organisers decision. Was what they did totally bogus ? Yes. But could Djokovic change it with his sulky attitude ? No.

Should have just focused on trying to win the match any way possible. Surely he would be capable of finding a way


The Djokovic I know didn't turn up till after the rain delay in the 5th. Even then he got tight.
 
Raining hopes said:
Nadal is a confidence player. And Rome proved that he has huge lack of that against Djokovic.

Trust me, had Novak came out of the gate free flowing in a would be final, Nadal would atleast have to work hard to over his doubts against him.


I was extremely disappointed with his attitude in the Thiem match. Why didn't he just accept whatever condition there was ? It wasn't as if he could change the organisers decision. Was what they did totally bogus ? Yes. But could Djokovic change it with his sulky attitude ? No.

Should have just focused on trying to win the match any way possible. Surely he would be capable of finding a way


The Djokovic I know didn't turn up till after the rain delay in the 5th. Even then he got tight.
Click to expand...

He threw a set away basically just like that. It wasn't until the 2nd set he decided he needs to start accepting the circumstances.
 
ABCD said:
In a column for El Pais, Rafael Nadal's uncle Toni admitted that facing Dominic Thiem was better than facing Novak Djokovic in the French Open final. The Austrian defeated the Serb 7-5 in the fifth set on Saturday. Nadal' coach Francis Roig also admitted that facing Thiem was better.

"Let's not lie. The Novak Djokovic's loss in this year's French Open to Dominic Thiem made us a bit happy", wrote Toni. "And not because the Austrian's tennis gives less fear than the Serb's, but because a loss to Novak would have been more powerful for Rafael.

I think the reasons are clear. Novak makes Rafa struggle. On the other side, it's very easy to appreciate Dominic. Both his family and him are always very well educated. Rafa said they are good people, so on the day that the young Austrian lifts the tournament, we will be happy for him.

On Sunday it was a high-intensity match between two classical clay specialists. From my side, although in the beginning, my nephew was dominating, his shots were not powerful enough. But breaking on 2-3 in the first set gave him a mental boost.

That was the first key moment. The second moment was when after losing the second set, Rafael asked to go to the bathroom. He used that moment to regroup, think what was going bad. When he cameback, he showed to have clear ideas on how to deliver his game.

Now due to the many statistics around, you do not think about the mental side and on that aspect, Rafa was stronger than Dominic. Now he comes back home and we have to think about the next goal, starting to think about Wimbledon."
Click to expand...
I though it was absurd to allow Rafa to take an extended break after only the second set. It seemed, and now is obvious, that it was gamesmanship to stop Thiem's momentum.
 
clayqueen said:
Because Novak rubs his opponent's nose in it when he wins and his team would have bumped a car under Rafa's hotel bedroom like they did when Djoker beat him in Madrid.

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Balkan style celabration. It is in our blood.

But that was 8 years ago. They don't do that anymore.
 
RF-18 said:
Truth is Nadal was lucky with the scheduling, draw, weather, pretty much everything went his way. Acknowledge that instead of saying Novak ran away when the tournament did everything to screw him over.
Click to expand...

So people say that Nadal is a shoe-in every RG, but according to you, hes only winning because of good luck LOL:-D
 
RF-18 said:
Balkan style celebration. It is in our blood.

But that was 8 years ago. They don't do that anymore.
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I don't think there is any love lost between Djokovic and Nadal. Djokovic doesn't seem to like either Roger or Rafa very much.
 
Toni Nadal:
"............. it's very easy to appreciate Dominic. Both his family and him are always very well educated. Rafa said they are good people, so on the day that the young Austrian lifts the tournament, we will be happy for him."

In other words, Thiem and his family are nice people.
 
clayqueen said:
Toni Nadal:
"............. it's very easy to appreciate Dominic. Both his family and him are always very well educated. Rafa said they are good people, so on the day that the young Austrian lifts the tournament, we will be happy for him."

In other words, Thiem and his family are nice people.
Click to expand...

Do you think that Tony also meant "............. it's very difficult to appreciate Djokovic. Both his family and him are not well educated. Rafa said they are bad people, so on the day that the young-middle aged Serbian lifts the tournament, we will not be happy for him."
 
kevaninho said:
So people say that Nadal is a shoe-in every RG, but according to you, hes only winning because of good luck LOL:-D
Click to expand...

Djokovic didn't run away from Nadal. If you can't acknowledge the affect the weather and scheduling had then Nadal was lucky he didn't face them. I didn't say he was lucky he won the title.
 
clayqueen said:
Because Novak rubs his opponent's nose in it when he wins and his team would have bumped a car under Rafa's hotel bedroom like they did when Djoker beat him in Madrid.

Click to expand...
That was below Rafa's bedroom ? Could Rafa see them and hear them ? :laughing::laughing::laughing::laughing:
Those guys know how to celebrate :)
 
RF-18 said:
Djokovic didn't run away from Nadal. If you can't acknowledge the affect the weather and scheduling had then Nadal was lucky he didn't face them. I didn't say he was lucky he won the title.
Click to expand...
Djoker can't complain. He did say the revamped PC court felt like indoors to him.
 
ABCD said:
Do you think that Tony also meant "............. it's very difficult to appreciate Djokovic. Both his family and him are not well educated. Rafa said they are bad people, so on the day that the young-middle aged Serbian lifts the tournament, we will not be happy for him."
Click to expand...
:D:-D:D:-D
 
ABCD said:
That was the first key moment. The second moment was when after losing the second set, Rafael asked to go to the bathroom. He used that moment to regroup, think what was going bad. When he cameback, he showed to have clear ideas on how to deliver his game.
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hmmm
 
Omega_7000 said:
Of course he does...he did the dirty work for him by taking out Djokovic....a few more RG finals against Thiem and he may just marry him
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Thiem is a better player on clay than Djokovic starting from 2017. So not sure how is that called "doing the dirty work". Djokovic's advantage against Nadal would be mental, not by the level of play.
 
True Fanerer said:
Another thread to praise Djokovic. That's all it's about.
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The way I read it, basically he just rightfully called Djo and his team uneducated, not pleasant to be around, and not true sportsman.

I think he called that one spot on, without needing to say it outright.

Uncle Toni...spit’in truth.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Djokovic forces Nadal out of his comfort zone like nobody else can do. Nadal has to work extra hard to win. With Nadal against Thiem, it's toe-to-toe within Nadal's comfort zone in terms of gamestyle.
 
MeatTornado said:
Nice to see Toni admit Rafa is a clay court specialist :p
Click to expand...

Rafa is the King of Clay:

D4aMjAzWsAAMO3F.jpg
 
RF-18 said:
The weather and scheduling screwed Novak over and his chances big time. I know Thiem faced the same problems but the hurricane conditions did more damage to Djokovic.
Click to expand...

Oh stop for heavens sakes. The conditions may have benefitted Thiem, but not all that much because the match was tied at a set apiece when play was stopped. The match still could've been completed that day, but Nole was the driving force in having it postponed until Saturday.
 
ChaelAZ said:
The way I read it, basically he just rightfully called Djo and his team uneducated, not pleasant to be around, and not true sportsman.

I think he called that one spot on, without needing to say it outright.

Uncle Toni...spit’in truth.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
One could interpret it that way through omission I suppose.
 
duaneeo said:
Oh stop for heavens sakes. The conditions may have benefitted Thiem, but not all that much because the match was tied at a set apiece when play was stopped. The match still could've been completed that day, but Nole was the driving force in having it postponed until Saturday.
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Dude, conditions were hurricane-like. It was worse than Fedal match earlier wich the forecast showed.

I want to make it clear it wasn't good for Thiems game either, but when you are up against Novak you rather want him to not be able to execute his game.

Oh so Novak was the driving force in all matches being postponed? Cause it wasn't just his match that got postponed, all other matches on the other courts got postponed aswell.
 
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