French Open Final: [1] Rafa Nadal vs [7] Dominic Thiem

[Rafa.the.Magnificent]

Wow at calling Thiem disappointing. Harsh to say the least.

I thought so too. Practically cringed. But I think what he really meant was that it was a disappointing loss for Thiem and just came out the wrong way. I sure hope so.

 

[DreddyTennis45]

As opposed to a champion like you right? Now remind us, which finals have you made it to in the majors?

Nadal had cramps in his hand and could barely play, yet managed to win the set 6-2 lmfao how do people still rate Thiem

 

[robert.s]

Nadal had cramps in his hand and could barely play, yet managed to win the set 6-2 lmfao how do people still rate Thiem

Too much is being made out of that moment. Nadal was firing on all cilinders today. Pretty much his best level on the surface at this age. I'd say this Nadal is actually even better than most versions except the ones that handed those heavy defeats to Federer.

 

[marc45]

fair enough. You could call it harsh, but I don't think bitter is appropriate.

first time ever I can recall the former player who's handing out the trophies being interviewed...was kind of cool but you also know it opens up the door to something being said that makes everyone a little queasy

 

[existential dread]

Can we talk about how bad Thiem's bh slices were? Every time he hit one I was expecting the point to soon be over. Why even have a one-hander if you can't safely hit a slice?

 

[Fedole]

Nadal had cramps in his hand and could barely play, yet managed to win the set 6-2 lmfao how do people still rate Thiem

Lol, you need to watch more clay court tennis. Thiem is #2 in the field.

 

[robert.s]

Federer once again with a great move to skip clay as it turned out. No way he touches this Nadal on this surface.

 

[PrinceMoron]

Federer and Nadal have won the last 6 Slams with a combined age of... just when is anyone going to step up?


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[Atherton2003]

So happy Nadal won. Great champion, classy person. He is truly amazing.

 

[Atherton2003]

Nadal's sister always reminds me of the late, great singer Tom Petty

 

[robert.s]

Federer and Nadal have won the last 6 Slams with a combined age of... just when is anyone going to step up?


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It's even worse when you think that it's mostly down to Djokovic and Murray to come back. Maybe a slight hope for Del Potro or Cilic, but that's about it.

 

[Bogdan_TT]

Most boring final ever. Most boring ceremony ever. Nadal is boring.
After he received his time violation warning, the next 3 serves were 34, 36 & 39 seconds... Thiem was 19 and 22.

Looking forward for hext year’s final when Nadal will win his 12th title. Yey

 

[tacou]

millionth year in a row where they kill 30 minutes after the ceremony, but don't play the top 10 points. wtfff

 

[Deleted member 3771]

Get real,,, he employed stupid strategy and hitting out on every shot at 120 % and didn't work. he should have seen that from Rafa's previous matches. He has Young enough legs to stay in long points with Nadal... and who know, if he did that, Maybe RAFA would have started cramping much sooner like in early 2nd set....then he would have some chance

Thiem's best success was coming when points were 4 shots or less. Nadal was just too skillful in longer points.

 

[Deleted member 77403]

Perfect Cell wasn't the perfect fighting machine though, he lost to a kid, much like Fed did in WIM08.

Djokovic was more machine like anyway. On slow HC he was unstoppable until he lost form. Djokovic looks like Cell too.

On clay, Nadal is the perfect fighting machine.

Cell was designed to be the perfect fighting machine. Gohan had to go nuclear to beat him, we haven't seen such a player come up like that on clay yet to challenge Nadal's dominance. This like Cell fighting the ascendant level of Goku and Vegeta and Trunks. They are not good enough for him.

Your Wimbledon 2008 comparison is poor one IMO, since Nadal almost beat him the year before, and was dominating him outside of W before that match anyway, with the exception of WTF. Nadal was no kid at 22 at W 2008, that is peak age for a tennis player.

And since this is clay we are talking about, no one would say Djokovic is the perfect cell of clay, when Nadal has been the one dominating the surface, and is hence the perfect clay fighter.

 

[TennisFan3]

Does anyone know how to get access to post in Nadal News thread? It says insufficient privelleges to post .

 

[robert.s]

This young generation of players is really a bust like no other. Never seen such a void of talent or unwillingness to suffer in order to make it. These times when kids have iphones since they are 5 years old makes it harder for monsters like Nadal to be created.

 

[DreddyTennis45]

Lol, you need to watch more clay court tennis. Thiem is #2 in the field.

Because, like grass, the clay court competiton is very weak.
Thiem is just a ballbasher I'm afraid, no variety or tennis IQ. Will never make it at the top

 

[THUNDERVOLLEY]

How exactly do you play with anger and desperation? Sounds like something you have experience in.

No, sunshine.

Federer's ego is welded to his majors count, and now that Nadal has won yet another major, only the most defensive Federer fan would deny that today's victory does not put it into Federer's mind that Nadal can threaten to eventually match or pass it. That said, he's not going to take anything for granted or play like he's at the park court. Further, at Wimbledon, Nadal has won two titles, defeating Federer in 2008--on "his" surface.

 

[Bill W]

Federer and Nadal have won the last 6 Slams with a combined age of... just when is anyone going to step up?

We need to quit asking when people are going to step up. The real question is when are Fed and Rafa going to step down. They are head and shoulders better than everyone else in the field. And until their level starts to decline, no one has the game to truly challenge them.

 

[Pagoo]

No, sunshine.

Federer's ego is welded to his majors count, and now that Nadal has won yet another major, only the most defensive Federer fan would deny that today's victory does not put it into Federer's mind that Nadal can threaten to eventually match or pass it. That said, he's not going to take anything for granted or play like he's at the park court. Further, at Wimbledon, Nadal has won two titles, defeating Federer in 2008--on "his" surface.

Didn't know you were in Federer's mind. I know where to go next time I have a question for Federer.

 

[Fedole]

Because, like grass, the clay court competiton is very weak.
Thiem is just a ballbasher I'm afraid, no variety or tennis IQ. Will never make it at the top

He will never make it at the top but is the first in line to pick up the French Open once Nadal finally gives up. Whatever.

 

[Mike Sams]

He probably lives with it better than if he'd choked away two fifth sets in Melbourne after being a break up.

Nadal seems to have a longer career longevity than Djokovic and Murray though, and nobody would have predicted that in 2014. He looks more likely to catch Federer now than back then in a funny way, even though he's 4 years older.

It's not quite that cut and dry. Rewind back to Roland Garros 2016 and everyone was thinking Djokovic at 12 Slams was going to easily surpass Nadal's 14 Slams and Federer's 17 Slams. Djokovic was rampaging through the seasons winning almost everything and even accumulated the highest number of points than anyone in history at one point. And then look what happened in a span of 24 hours. Suddenly he couldn't win anything at all.
Even in Nadal's case, who knows if he just won his final Slam or if he'll win several more. Who knows if Federer will win anymore Slams or win many more. Impossible to tell.

 

[Steve0904]

And Thiem all of a sudden couldn't buy a serve in the final and was a complete error machine.

You can't knock Nadal. It's not his fault. He must be laughing his arse off at these youngsters who at age 24(not even that young any longer) can't step up when it matters. I mean, Nadal won his first slam at age 19, Djokovic was 20. What is wrong with these youngsters? It's not normal.

They just don't have it talent wise. I'm not talking about mentally. I'm talking actual honest to god ability to consistently hit a tennis ball without making errors.

Look at all of them. None of them have a killer shot. They're baseliners without Big 3 level talent.

Raonic was always going to be a big lumbering oaf. Nishikori is fragile and even when he's healthy his serve is a major weakness. Dimitrov probably has the most natural ball striking ability, but he serves too many DFs. Zverev has a technical flaw in his FH, not to mention that no one that tall has ever had an ATG career. Thiem is a ball basher with zero tennis IQ. He just works way too hard producing his strokes. Kyrgios doesn't give AF, and tbh even if he did I'm still far from convinced with that shovel of a BH he has. He even powder puffs the FH on occasion and he'll never morph into Mr. Stamina overnight.

Even Shapovalov has to reign it in consistency wise if he wants to succeed in this era of tennis. Otherwise he'll be the next Thiem. The scary part is that I can keep going. Chung's serve is atrocious and Rublev is a FH and not much else.

We have an era of winners right now that have zero weaknesses. And a bunch of young guys coming up that have at least one glaring weakness. Not necessarily mentally even though that transfers over in pressure situations. It's a genuine stroke producing weakness (that will show itself mentally in pressure situations), whether it be Zverev's FH, Chung's serve, Dimitrov's serve etc.....

And Federer, Nadal, and even Djokovic before he went crazy and Murray before he had surgery all know those weaknesses and exploit them ruthlessly. If you're not good at the net they expose that. If you can't move north-south very well, they expose that. If you can't last in a 30+ shot rally for more than an hour or two, they expose that. If you can't hit a BH or FH consistently, they expose it etc... And they can because they have no weaknesses, or the ones they do have are only exploited when they play each other.

 

[clayqueen]

He looks more likely to catch Federer now than back then in a funny way, even though he's 4 years older.

Who is 4 years older than whom?

 

[abmk]

No, sunshine.

Federer's ego is welded to his majors count, and now that Nadal has won yet another major, only the most defensive Federer fan would deny that today's victory does not put it into Federer's mind that Nadal can threaten to eventually match or pass it. That said, he's not going to take anything for granted or play like he's at the park court. Further, at Wimbledon, Nadal has won two titles, defeating Federer in 2008--on "his" surface.

yes, he'd have the slam count in mind for sure, but that doesn't mean he'd be angry or desperate, genius !

 

[Sudacafan]

I'm calling BS.

Calling BS what you don’t or can’t understand is a known form of self defense against reality.

 

[DreddyTennis45]

He will never make it at the top but is the first in line to pick up the French Open once Nadal finally gives up.

That's exactly my point lmao. He's not good enough to do it now so he has to wait for Nadal to retire and then feast on weak competition

 

[Mike Sams]

That's exactly my point lmao. He's not good enlugh to do it now so he has to wait for Nadal to retire

Or wait for Nadal to lose to somebody else in a shocker.

 

[maxrenn]

Ready for the grass season?

Of course I love tennis. Would you like some fries with your salt?

 

[JohnnyMac Fan!]

His strategy makes me want to tear my hair out but he's got enough weapons that--if used better--could make him a contender.

It's just that I don't think he'll ever get there.

Dont make Paranoidandroid even more paranoid!

 

[Deleted member 744633]

They just don't have it talent wise. I'm not talking about mentally. I'm talking actual honest to god ability to consistently hit a tennis ball without making errors.

Look at all of them. None of them have a killer shot. They're baseliners without Big 3 level talent.

Raonic was always going to be a big lumbering oaf. Nishikori is fragile and even when he's healthy his serve is a major weakness. Dimitrov probably has the most natural ball striking ability, but he serves too many DFs. Zverev has a technical flaw in his FH, not to mention that no one that tall has ever had an ATG career. Thiem is a ball basher with zero tennis IQ. He just works way too hard producing his strokes. Kyrgios doesn't give AF, and tbh even if he did I'm still far from convinced with that shovel of a BH he has. He even powder puffs the FH on occasion and he'll never morph into Mr. Stamina overnight.

Even Shapovalov has to reign it in consistency wise if he wants to succeed in this era of tennis. Otherwise he'll be the next Thiem. The scary part is that I can keep going. Chung's serve is atrocious and Rublev is a FH and not much else.

We have an era of winners right now that have zero weaknesses. And a bunch of young guys coming up that have at least one glaring weakness. Not necessarily mentally even though that transfers over in pressure situations. It's a genuine stroke producing weakness (that will show itself mentally in pressure situations), whether it be Zverev's FH, Chung's serve, Dimitrov's serve etc.....

And Federer, Nadal, and even Djokovic before he went crazy and Murray before he had surgery all know those weaknesses and exploit them ruthlessly. If you're not good at the net they expose that. If you can't move north-south very well, they expose that. If you can't last in a 30+ shot rally for more than an hour or two, they expose that. If you can't hit a BH or FH consistently, they expose it etc... And they can because they have no weaknesses, or the ones they do have are only exploited when they play each other.

Steve ... get over it or take some anti-depressants man! When Federer won Wimbledon last year beating a bunch of worthless players, you didn't say a f*ucking thing about the next generation being cra*p. yet Nadal wins a slam and you write a half-page essay about it?

By the way, I'm in full agreement with your point though

 

[Mike Sams]

Surely Why not date RAFA's sister ?? It really makes sense for Thiem. and I see his sister in the stands checking him like she is hot for him...............and she is much better looking than that French girl Thiem is dating...........lol

She's hot but she's too old for Thiem.

 

[Fedole]

That's exactly my point lmao. He's not good enlugh to do it now so he has to wait for Nadal to retire

But you're saying that Thiem will never win anything based off the fact that he couldn't win against Nadal at the French Open? That seems strange to me. I don't think we should use records against Nadal at the French Open as a marker or indicator to their future success.

 

[Krish872007]

Who is 4 years older than whom?

Even though Rafa is 4 years older than... he was 4 years ago. I think that was his point.

 

[Goosehead]

june 9th 1968 was date of rosewall winning 1st major of open era. ..50 years 1 day ago.

 

[Tiki-Taka]

Lovely tribute!
But you really think this is his last Slam? I would hope for more at this point

After 2014 Roland Garros, I thought he would add several Majors. But as time passed I there were moments when I thought he would stop at 14.

If tennis taught us anything, it's that every outcome you can think of can happen, no matter how insane it might sound.

 

[Mike Sams]

But you're saying that Thiem will never win anything based off the fact that he couldn't win against Nadal at the French Open? That seems strange to me. I don't think we should use records against Nadal at the French Open as a marker or indicator to their future success.

Thiem can win the US Open this year possibly.

 

[tennis_pro]

Of course I love tennis. Would you like some fries with your salt?

yes please

 

[ACE of Hearts]

It's interesting, because Federer enjoys this as well, since Djokovic for example was the boss both at AO and at Wimbledon until his fall. Federer has been the main beneficiary of Djokovic's decline, because he made room for Federer to have a big success on the fast courts, where Nadal can't handle him.

Djokovic's best surfaces are the same as Federer's.

I think djokovic knows how fedeee felt when he came up empty at Wimbledon. Federer is past his prime. I think prime Federer handles djokovic on grass

 

[cc0509]

That person has been a bitter Federer hater for as long as I can remember. Even before I joined the forum. Sad soul.

Yeah, I know. A Serena fanatic/Federer hater.

 

[Fedole]

Thiem can win the US Open this year possibly.

i think that is his best slam outside of RG. I would doubt he would win it, but a SF would be nice. Either way, he has a great chance to win RG in the future.

 

[Nadal15thslam]

So happy for Rafa, he scared me with the finger moment in the last set. Vamooooos!

 

[Krish872007]

After 2014 Roland Garros, I thought he would add several Majors. But as time passed I there were moments when I thought he would stop at 14.

If tennis taught us anything, it's that every outcome you can think of can happen, no matter how insane it might sound.

What we have seen happening in tennis over the last 20 years or so proves categorically that past results and patterns have no bearing on future successes. And that's applicable to any aspect of life.
What's next? As far as Slam counts go, it remains very interesting. For the rest of the field, there's still some soul-searching to do. Federer and Nadal continue to hold up the old Big 4 fort, splitting the past 6 Slams between them!

And by the way, good to see you using a conventional font nowadays

 

[Nadal15thslam]

I bet someone will create a thread like this: Nadal to win 25 slams

 

[DreddyTennis45]

But you're saying that Thiem will never win anything based off the fact that he couldn't win against Nadal at the French Open? That seems strange to me. I don't think we should use records against Nadal at the French Open as a marker or indicator to their future success.

No he'll never amount to anything because he's mentally weak and has no variety, as evidenced today.
Nobody expected him to win today, but people expected him to win at least one set and give Rafa a run for his money.
He folded like a deck chair after going 0-30 down at 5-4. After that, the outcome was inevitable.
As for lack of variety, his second serve out wide was abysmal, the obvious thing to do was to change it up or take the pace off his first serve- he did neither.

 

[Rickenbacker4003]

Ready for the grass season?

At least he’ll show up and put up a fight

 

[clout]

I was hoping for some competition but then again its Nadal on clay and Thiem didn't exactly bring his A game today. I'm sure he'll get a couple "coupe de mousquetaires" in his career sooner rather than later though. As for Rafa, this guy just keeps on winning even at this age and even though he's got the second best resume of all time (IMO), he still seems hungry to keep getting better (similar to Fed), which is straight up frightening for the rest of the league.

 

[Rickenbacker4003]

Just think about it. Borg has 11 majors. Djokovic 12. Nadal has 11 French Open’s alone.

 

[Krish0608]

Such as? Fed's only worthwhile records are just his weeks at number 1 and his 20 GS titles. I think you should check the facts.

Flash News: Those are the only ones that matter. Ciao.