Nadal ‘stepped on me,’ Thiem says
PARIS — For a few, fleeting moments Sunday, Rafael Nadal found his French Open supremacy seemingly threatened by Dominic Thiem, a younger opponent challenging him in the final for the second consecutive year.
A poor game from Nadal allowed Thiem to break him and even things at a set apiece. That development brought fans to their feet in Court Philippe Chatrier, roaring and clapping and, above all, wondering: Was this, now, a real contest? Could Thiem push Nadal more? Would Nadal falter?
That the questions arose at all was significant. The answers arrived swiftly. Nadal reasserted himself, as he usually does at Roland Garros, by grabbing 16 of the next 17 points and 12 of the remaining 14 games, pulling away to beat Thiem 6-3, 5-7, 6-1, 6-1 for his record-extending 12th championship at the French Open.
“He stepped on me,” Thiem said. “The numbers are crazy. He won it 12 times.”
No one in tennis ever has won any major tournament that frequently. Then again, no one ever has been as suited for success on any of the sport’s surfaces as this 33-year-old Spaniard is on red clay: Nadal is 93-2 for his career at Roland Garros, winning four titles in a row (2005-08), five in a row (2010-14) and now three in a row.
“I can’t explain my emotions,” said the second-seeded player, who dropped to his back after the final point, getting that rust-colored dirt all over his neon yellow shirt, then wiped away tears during the trophy ceremony.
He has 18 Grand Slam trophies, two behind Roger Federer’s men’s record.
Nadal, however, did not want to entertain any discussion of a pursuit of Federer.
“I am not very worried about this stuff,” Nadal said. “You can’t be frustrated all the time because the neighbor has a bigger house than you or a bigger TV or better garden.”
Thiem, a 25-year-old Austrian who was seeded No. 4 and upset No. 1 Novak Djokovic in a draining, rain-interrupted semifinal played over two days, was eyeing his first major title in this rematch of the 2018 final in Paris. But again, he couldn’t solve Nadal.
“First thing that I want to say is congrats to Dominic. I feel sorry, because he deserves it here, too,” Nadal said. “He has an unbelievable intensity.”
From the get-go, it was such a physical grind that Nadal was soaked with sweat and changed neon yellow shirts after just seven games, eliciting catcalls from the stands.
In the early going, there were no signs of fatigue for Thiem, but eventually he faded in his fourth straight day of competition — enough to create an opening for Nadal to exploit.
“Almost everybody will tell you that he’s one of the best volleyers of our game,” Thiem said. “Because the last time he missed a volley was, maybe, seven years ago, I guess.”
Soon enough, it was over. The King of Clay, as Nadal is known, still reigns.