Nadal claims 12th title with both magic and grit
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For a few fleeting moments yesterday, Rafael Nadal found his French Open supremacy seemingly threatened by Dominic Thiem.
A poor game from Nadal allowed Thiem to break him and even things at a set apiece.
But 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.
No one in tennis ever has won any major tournament that many times. 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 in a row from 2005-08, five in a row from 2010-14, and now three in a row.
Looking at the bigger picture, Nadal is now up to 18 Grand Slam trophies, moving within two of Roger Federer’s men’s record of 20.
Thiem, a 25-year-old Austrian who was seeded No. 4 and upset No. 1 Novak Djokovic in the semifinals, 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 during the trophy ceremony. “He has an unbelievable intensity.”
In the initial game three of the five points lasted at least 11 strokes. And, thereby, a pattern was established. By the end of the 3-hour, 1-minute match, a total of 46 points went 10 strokes or more. Each man claimed half.
From the get-go, it was such a physical grind that Nadal was soaked with sweat and changed neon yellow shirts after seven games and 45 minutes, eliciting some whistles and catcalls from the crowd.
Early on, there were no signs of fatigue for Thiem, even though he was competing for a fourth straight day, because of rain that jumbled the schedule.
Nadal, meanwhile, entered the match having played just once in the previous four days. It was Thiem who nosed ahead first, closing a 12-stroke exchange by ripping a forehand winner to earn the first break point of the final, then converting it with an overhead to cap a 20-stroke point for a 3-2 edge.
He turned with a clenched right hand to face his guest box, where all of his supporters were on their feet, yelling and shaking fists, too, including his girlfriend, French tennis player Kristina Mladenovic.
Not so fast.
Nadal snapped to, immediately. He grabbed 13 of the set’s last 18 points, and its final four games, doing so with elan, using a drop shot to help him break Thiem for a 5-3 lead, then a serve-and-volley to help hold for the set.
They appeared headed for a tiebreaker in the second set when Thiem broke to take it.
Nadal had a run in which he took 25 of 26 points on his serve, before a loss of focus, perhaps, did him in.
With spectators trading between-point chants of nicknames — “Ra-fa!” and “Do-mi!” — Nadal pushed a backhand long. That gave Thiem the first set he’d managed to steal from Nadal in four career meetings at Roland Garros.
But Thiem, put simply, wilted a bit. He made three unforced errors in the fourth set’s first game to get broken at love. Thiem created an opening and Nadal barged through. By now, Nadal was creating magic at the net, and he won the point on 23 of 27 times he went forward. One drop volley was spun so marvelously that it landed on Thiem’s side, then bounced back toward the net.
All Thiem could do was watch — and offer an appreciative thumbs-up.
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