ATP Finals 2020: Dominic Thiem, Rafael Nadal and an ode to tennis
Dominic Thiem and Rafael Nadal fought a breathtaking match in the group stage of the 2020 ATP Finals - and once again showed what tennis has to offer.
by Nikolaus Fink
last edit: Nov 17, 2020, 08:49 pm
There was not too much tennis to be seen in 2020 for known reasons. Since the middle of August, the ATP tour has resumed play after an almost six-month break, from an Austrian point of view, Dominic Thiem's tournament victory at the US Open gave reason to be happy again after a few weeks.
What the numerous tennis fans were offered in front of the television sets on Tuesday afternoon in the London O2 arena exceeded, from a purely playful point of view, what was shown in New York by far. "I think that I played at a higher level than at the US Open today. It was perhaps my best match since the restart," said Thiem.
Thiem: "One of the best matches"
This statement by the Lichtenwörther was not by chance: he and Rafael Nadal played fantastic tennis throughout, one sensational point chased the next. It was almost a shame that the Austrian knew how to prevent a third set of this tennis spectacle.
7: 6 (7) and 7: 6 (4) it was after 2:25 hours of play from Thiem's point of view. "It was definitely one of the best matches of my career. I think it was just about the second group game against" Nole "a year ago," said Thiem. Exactly twelve months ago, the Austrian defeated Novak Djokovic at the ATP Finals - with two differences to the match against Nadal: The game against the Serb was decided in a third set - and that in front of spectators.
One thing is certain: if the two protagonists had played in front of fans on Tuesday, all hell would have broken loose. At the latest when Nadal irresistibly destroyed three match points of his opponent in the second set and also put them to 5: 5 thanks to a tweener.
A moment where many players would have broken. Not so Thiem. "Honestly, that wasn't a problem at all. I was of course a bit nervous because I had the chance to win the match. But he scored three outstanding points. I didn't award the match points, he fought them off. So I could do nothing, "said the 27-year-old.
Thiem is based on Djokovic
A little later there was another tiebreak, which Thiem was able to win against Nadal like the four previous ones. "I would not overstate the fact that I won the last five tiebreaks against him. There will certainly be some again that I will lose. There was also a lot of luck with it," Thiem referred to the first round, in which he made up a 2: 5 deficit and then fended off two set balls.
But the strength in tight situations does not come entirely by chance. He took Novak Djokovic as an example and did not want to make any more simple mistakes, especially in tiebreaks, said Thiem. "Since I've had this attitude and have concentrated on it, I've also had a good record," said the world number three, referring to his 10: 1 statistic in short decisions against top ten players this year.
Nadal confident despite defeat
Nadal suffered half of these "tiebreaker defeats". The Spaniard didn't want to attach too much importance to this statistic: "I have no idea why this happened. I can't find a reason for it. I knocked a few balls in the tie-break when I had the advantage. But I have all things good made in this match. "
For the 20-time Grand Slam winner, it is already about survival at the ATP Finals on Thursday against Stefanos Tsitsipas. But after the performance against Thiem, Nadal is optimistic that he will be promoted: "If I play like this, I am confident that I will have my options in this tournament."
The chance of playing a very good event is now higher than it was five days ago, explained Nadal: "I am much more satisfied with my level now and have the chance to continue." Maybe even until a rematch with Dominic Thiem is on the program next Sunday. It would be balm for the corona-battered soul of the fans - and probably another ode to tennis.
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