Thiem vs Zverev: this year's clay masters

Towny

Towny

Hall of Fame
I think most of us see Thiem going further than Zverev at RG, given Thiem has made 2 SFs and a Final, compared to 1 QF for Zverev. But what about the masters? Who do you think will have the better season? For point of reference, here are their performances in the last 2 seasons:

Zverev 2017: Monte Carlo 3R, Madrid QF, Rome W
Thiem 2017: Monte Carlo 3R, Madrid F, Rome SF

Zverev 2018: Monte Carlo SF. Madrid W, Rome F
Thiem 2018: Monte Carlo QF, Madrid F, Rome 2R

Zverev has obviously been more successful so far, but does Thiem's recent IW victory improve his chances?
 
I'd personally still give Zverev the edge for now, although he's been in poor form of late
 
I find it embarrassing for the supposed prince of clay to not have any big titles on clay, while Zverev has 2 and even defeated Thiem to win one of his titles.

I think they will both perform equally well in the clay season. It will be interesting to see their confrontations against Djokodal because they will have to go through one of them or even both of them to find success at the clay masters this year.
 
Thiem is better on clay IMO.

However, both of them should produce a miracle when they play against Nadal or Djokovic or Federer. It depends. Then you do have a lot of other players who can play very well on clay. Older guys like Stan the Man, RBA ... too many players are still out there. It's not that predictable.

I'd love to see Thiem vs. Zverev at RG this year. It should be fun :).
 
Luka888 said:
Thiem is better on clay IMO.

However, both of them should produce a miracle when they play against Nadal or Djokovic or Federer. It depends. Then you do have a lot of other players who can play very well on clay. Older guys like Stan the Man, RBA ... too many players are still out there. It's not that predictable.

I'd love to see Thiem vs. Zverev at RG this year. It should be fun :).
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Nah, they don't need to perform a miracle against old man Fed on clay. Just play to their usual standards.

RBA's favorite surface is HC, not clay.
 
Zed will do well in the masters. He likes to thrive in the non slam environment. Ivan Lendl can’t do anything about it.
 
I can't really look at the Masters without looking at what it culminates in. Big edge Thiem because he's likely to actually do something at RG.
 
mike danny said:
I find it embarrassing for the supposed prince of clay to not have any big titles on clay, while Zverev has 2 and even defeated Thiem to win one of his titles.

I think they will both perform equally well in the clay season. It will be interesting to see their confrontations against Djokodal because they will have to go through one of them or even both of them to find success at the clay masters this year.
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Their clay final was Madrid though, which should suit Zverev the most and Thiem the least. Doesn't change that Thiem laid an egg in that final and it's probably Zverev's best tournament in his career so far.

On other clay tournaments I do think Thiem should be better, and considering his IW win his form should be alright. I think Thiem doing much better than Zverev this clay season would not be an unreasonable expectation
 
Red Rick said:
Their clay final was Madrid though, which should suit Zverev the most and Thiem the least. Doesn't change that Thiem laid an egg in that final and it's probably Zverev's best tournament in his career so far.

On other clay tournaments I do think Thiem should be better, and considering his IW win his form should be alright. I think Thiem doing much better than Zverev this clay season would not be an unreasonable expectation
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I disagree with Madrid not suiting Thiem. His previous 2 masters finals were both in Madrid and the conditions there did help him hit through Nadal with more ease last year.

He just didn't show up in the final against Zverev.
 
mike danny said:
I disagree with Madrid not suiting Thiem. His previous 2 masters finals were both in Madrid and the conditions there did help him hit through Nadal with more ease last year.

He just didn't show up in the final against Zverev.
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I was more talking about that particular matchup. Madrid by far the clay tournament best suited to big servers and Zverev was serving great in those 2 weeks where I believe he didn't get broken for 2 weeks or something stupid on clay.
 
I am banking on Thiem this year to go big. He has all the clay tools you’d want, and seems to be getting a bit better in between the ears. If he could develop a working drop shot and just a bit more patience, he’d be sharing the spoils with Rafa or even cleaning up the clay season.

As for this year, I expect him to get 1 clay masters and an additional final, but then again wouldn’t want him to go too deep everywhere because he still can’t schedule his season at all.
 
Zverev doesn't have a game (big weapon) to be successful on clay in best of five, so I'll always fancy Thiem's chances. In masters 1000, you never know and anyone could beat anyone.
 
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