RG'14 R64: Rafael Nadal (1) vs Dominic Thiem

Who wins?

  • Total voters
    97
  • Poll closed .
I personally think Nadal looks more promising today then he has this whole clay season.

Roland Garros offers him a ton of belief.
VAMOS!
 
JoshT said:
Their Spicy chicken is where it's at.
SUPREMES!
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Omg chicken supremes :)
Nadal wins, the streak continues....

pic_2656290_1203692023.gif
 
I love these Rafa threads where everyone talks up the chances of him losing/being pushed and he ends up beasting it in straight sets.
 
Very disappointed with Nadal's serve! Since past couple of weeks, i've noticed that Rafa has been serving as many as 99.9% of his serves to opponent's BH (be it one-hander or two-hander).
It goes to a point that he serves maybe 1 serve to the FH in an entire set(& sometimes not even that). As a result, his serve has become TOO predictable.

I have noticed that his opponents start moving towards their BH side, as soon as Rafa tosses the ball up. Most noticeable was Murray in the Rome match.

What happens is, that Rafa doesn't get much advantage with his serve, and it's almost like starting a rally from a neutral position. That's why he has been getting broken way more often in this Clay season.
He needs to mix it up a lot more, and not just serve towards the BH like a programmed robot.

Also the power in his shots is somewhat missing. It's kind of weird, because he is one of the fittest player on the tour, & yet the average speed of his shots has been lesser than almost all of his opponents, this season.

Needs to serve better, and impart more power to his shots. Hopefully he'll get there.
 
Well played by Thiem, had some chances but wasn't consistent enough, Nadal was great in forcing him into errors with some excellent retrieving.
 
LazyNinja19 said:
Very disappointed with Nadal's serve! Since past couple of weeks, i've noticed that Rafa has been serving as many as 99.9% of his serves to opponent's BH (be it one-hander or two-hander).
It goes to a point that he serves maybe 1 serve to the FH in an entire set(& sometimes not even that). As a result, his serve has become TOO predictable.

I have noticed that his opponents start moving towards their BH side, as soon as Rafa tosses the ball up. Most noticeable was Murray in the Rome match.

What happens is, that Rafa doesn't get much advantage with his serve, and it's almost like starting a rally from a neutral position. That's why he has been getting broken way more often in this Clay season.
He needs to mix it up a lot more, and not just serve towards the BH like a programmed robot.

Also the power in his shots is somewhat missing. It's kind of weird, because he is one of the fittest player on the tour, & yet the average speed of his shots has been lesser than almost all of his opponents, this season.

Needs to serve better, and impart more power to his shots. Hopefully he'll get there.
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Agreed - that was something I was saying a few backs - serve is weak and predictable. hence Djoko simply goes to town on him with returns - Rafa will get away with it against weaker players but Djoko will eat up his serve.
 
Nadal was ok with brilliant moments. He was happy about his level of play in the oncourt interview. He's not quite there yet, but this should be more than enough to make it to the quarters with pretty much no effort.
 
aldeayeah said:
Nadal was ok with brilliant moments. He was happy about his level of play in the oncourt interview. He's not quite there yet, but this should be more than enough to make it to the quarters with pretty much no effort.
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Thiem employed the strategy of trying to rally with Nadal from far behind the baseline. We all know that approach is lunacy. Nobody has ever beaten Nadal doing that.

As difficult as it has been, Djokovic has figured it out. You have to stand on the baseline and take all of Nadal's shots early -- either on the rise at the apex of the bounce. You also have to flatten out every single shot off of both wings. Well, that's incredibly difficult to do.

On this surface, a very few players have been able to sustain that kind of approach to the game -- for three sets -- and beat Nadal. At Roland Garros, a five-set format, he has only been beaten one time out of almost 90 matches.

I wish Djokovic the best of luck in his run, but I still don't see it happening this year. That said, the only player who has the remotest of chances of beating Nadal in this venue is Djokovic.
 
furryballs said:
16 winners 19 U/E's and wins in straights so goat
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He had 12 U/E's, not 19.


Josh Lyman said:
When did Rafa switch back to his Nike Air shoes?
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The new shoes don't work for Rafa and he's been wearing his old ones, even in practice. I think he wore the new ones once in MC and of course he wears them when he's doing any pr for Nike but they can't get them right for him and his bad foot. He even made a trip to Portland after IW to work with the Nike techs but they don't support his foot and the orthotic insoles he needs.


Great match from Rafa (except for when he relaxed too much at the beginning of the third) but he was really sending a message to the youngster. Fun to watch. ;)
 
irishnadalfan1983 said:
Agreed - that was something I was saying a few backs - serve is weak and predictable. hence Djoko simply goes to town on him with returns - Rafa will get away with it against weaker players but Djoko will eat up his serve.
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...as people say every year, then Djokovic loses to him.
 
I will treasure this win for the rest of Thiem's career. I recorded it on DVD (and just fitted it onto 2 hour disc - with 3 minutes to spare - by not recording the sit-downs).

Nadal already looks in good enough form to beat Ferrer in straight sets.
 
irishnadalfan1983 said:
Agreed - that was something I was saying a few backs - serve is weak and predictable. hence Djoko simply goes to town on him with returns - Rafa will get away with it against weaker players but Djoko will eat up his serve.
Click to expand...

Djokovic is only good at the non-slams. He's useless at the slams. Even in Rome, Djokovic found himself at 3-3 in the final set. Not exactly convincing considering Djokovic beat Nadal in straight sets at Monte Carlo last year. Djokovic goes to town - to get over the depression of losing at Roland Garros (and every non-Australian slam since 2011) each year :D
 
jm1980 said:
Nadal in three easy sets. Maybe a bakery product or two in the mix.

Let's get this hype train derailed.
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Nadal blew a chance to serve a breadstick in the first. Still a pretty easy match for him.

Kid doesn't have what it takes.
 
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