Thiem and Soderling have had remarkably similar careers

[wangs78]

I think expectations for Thiem are higher than they were for Soderling. Soderling was a power player in every sense and while he was always a danger he was not ever expected to be a consistent contender for Slams (ie, no one thought he could win more than 1-2). Thiem on the other hand has the full complement of skills (speed, defense, power, consistency, movitation/maturity) that most of us (at least I am) expect him to break through at some point and have at least a 12 to 18 month run where he is the man to beat. But he hasn't yet, and with each passing year, the expectation declines a little bit, as they have with Dimitrov. We were all waiting, waiting, waiting until we gave up, which is what has happened at this point with Grigor. With Thiem he still seems to be making progress every year, so there is still hope he will break through. How he performs at this year's USO could be a defining moment.

 

[BorgTheGOAT]

2019 Djokovic not strong? LOL Only Thiem beat him in the last 5 slams.

If Nadal doesn't care about other clay tournaments why did he lose only twice to all other players in three years?

Djokovic and Sampras have no business here. They didn't lose mostly to only one player 60% like Nadal did with Thiem on clay.

Then why couldn’t Thiem come close to ever beating Nadal at RG in three attempts if he is so dangerous? Why can Zverev and Medvedev win Masters even against Big three but cannot even dream about doing this at slams? As for Djokovic, yes he is winning slams left and right but this is mostly due to the historically weak field, not because he is in his prime/peak. 2019 Djokovic on clay is way weaker than 2011-2016 prime Djokovic.

 

[Lew II]

@BorgTheGOAT

Also note that Thiem was the only player to beat Federer in 26 matches from Dubai to French Open quarterfinals this year, and he did it twice.

Thiem has important wins over all Big3.

Ultimatetennisstatistics has a system to determine Big Wins (points assigned for winning big matches in the end-rounds of important tournaments against high-ranked opponents or as a high-ranked player and against opponents with high Elo rating), and Thiem has more than twice as many Big Win points as Soderling (1.72 vs 0.75). You can see here the full lists:

Ultimate Tennis Statistics - Robin Soderling

Robin Soderling profile at Ultimate Tennis Statistics

www.ultimatetennisstatistics.com

Ultimate Tennis Statistics - Dominic Thiem

Dominic Thiem profile at Ultimate Tennis Statistics

www.ultimatetennisstatistics.com

 

[Lew II]

Then why couldn’t Thiem come close to ever beating Nadal at RG in three attempts if he is so dangerous? Why can Zverev and Medvedev win Masters even against Big three but cannot even dream about doing this at slams? As for Djokovic, yes he is winning slams left and right but this is mostly due to the historically weak field, not because he is in his prime/peak. 2019 Djokovic on clay is way weaker than 2011-2016 prime Djokovic.

Why do you talk about Big Three and masters when we're talking about Nadal and clay? I repeat, Nadal lost only 2 other matches to all other players in three years. Thiem beat him 3 times. If Nadal didn't care, he would lose to anyone, not just Thiem.

Djokovic with a 33-1 score in Slams not being peak... Just LOL

 

[BorgTheGOAT]

Why do you talk about Big Three and masters when we're talking about Nadal and clay?

Because Nadal is part of the big three and we are talking clay masters. The big three in general including Nadal do not care much about masters these day which can be perfectly seen as they skip them more often lately. Fact is Thiem never got close to beating old Nadal where it matters most, while Soderling beat the peak version of Nadal.

Djokovic with a 33-1 score in Slams not being peak... Just LOL

Why exactly didn’t you understand that great records does not equal peak if it is against laughably weak competition? especially on clay Djokovic was way stronger in 2011-2016.

 

[King No1e]

Ask anyone other than yourself who knows anything about tennis what's the most memorable thing about him and everyone will say the FO win against Nadal.

Really a shame. He made it to #4 in the world, going nowhere but up, troubled the Big 4 more, and seemed poised to win Slams, but he will forever only be remembered for something he did as the world #23. He would've definitely had so many more of those moments if his career didn't get cut halfway in.

 

[Deleted member 307496]

Yeah except Thiem is going to outlast Soderling for sure. He is good for a major at the very least and from there we'll see what he can do.

 

[hipolymer]

reported wishing injury