Another easy win for Nadal, acquiring his 17th major. Imagine if Thiem (really his coaches) had a clue, any semblance of strategy toward point construction, variety, playing percentages? Hitting the ball as hard as you can just won't cut it in Bo5. Sorry. Winning a set from Nadal has become truly mental. The Thiem coaching, …
Category: Dominic Thiem
2018 Roland Garros Final
Irony has a way of really putting things into perspective. There are so many examples of irony in our lives; what a shame if one doesn't understand, nor can read the irony that surrounds him or her. Tomorrow's French Open final between Spain's Rafael Nadal and Austria's Dominic Thiem looks scheduled for the mid-afternoon, around …
Roland Garros QF Part I
Today went pretty well as far as I'm concerned. Sure the picks worked-out, but the best part is we have a decent set of players reaching these final rounds of the French Open. As I just said in a blog comment, if I really took the Cilic v Foghat match seriously, Marin would have been …
Madrid QF Youth Movement
Obviously some interesting tennis today. Credit, of course, to Nadal for insisting that a tour wake the hell up and play some legitimate Masters 1000 tennis. The Shapovalov v Edmund that followed the Nadal v Thiem QF was quite entertaining. Following the Thiem upset of Rafa, even the casual observer sees that what we have …
Madrid Quarter Finals
I was 3/8 on today's R16. The silver lining? I picked Zverev and Nadal (ha ha), who should face-off in the final on Sunday. I suppose that's what's so disappointing about Del Potro losing (and even Djokovic to a lesser extent since he's been struggling): despite my irrefutable claim that the clay evens the playing …
Tsitsipas Over Thiem is Not an Upset
I have my second Claydal meditation pretty much ready to write; look for it later today or tonight. Here's why you need me; the lame brain tennis media can not reconcile the following: Tsitsipas' form over the last few months, highlighted by QF appearances in Qatar and Dubai, should give some indication that he's been …
ATP Youth On the Rise
The complicated discussion of the ATP youth took a more positive spin last week (for which I will provide a more positive spin), which naturally follows from play earlier in the year and is actually part of a basic cycle of life: the young grow, mature, become stronger and more refined in order to overcome …
Nadal vs Wawrinka Roland Garros Final
Nadal is up two sets to zip over Thiem as I begin this post, 63 64. I'll have to re-write this if Dominic comes back and makes this really really interesting. But I really doubt that's going to happen (the match has thus ended, as I edit this, with Nadal closing out the final set …
RG 2017: QF Wrap and SF Preview
Djokovic Hopefully you read my reaction to Thiem crushing Djokovic's dream of a return to the kind of championship tennis we saw from Novak back in 2016. To be clear, not that any of you are not aware of my general concern for all things men's tennis, this slump/collapse/decline of Novak is fairly troubling. Though …
Dominic Thiem Ends Djokovic’s French Dream
This was an historical match as the 2017 tennis continues to chart the catastrophic Djokollapse. Yes, we have been charting said collapse since the summer of 2016. Yes, there have been signs of recovery; and yes the future looks pretty dim for Novak as the tennis continues to lack championship quality and consistency. Like I …
