Dominic Thiem made it count at Roland Garros for the second consecutive year, what was there to know more beyond his winning a set from Rafael Nadal in the final?
It has now been twice in two years in a row that Dominic Thiem has had to return emptyhanded from the French Open on the second Sunday. That both of his losses have come against Rafael Nadal make them starker than what they would have been against any other player. However, there are several positives to be taken from this result of the Austrian – even beyond him managing to win a set off the Spaniard in the 2019 final unlike his straight-set defeat in 2018.
Thiem’s biggest success coming off the Major was that he put himself out there as a contender for the title. The 25-year-old’s run was apropos of defying pre-tournament consensus of Nadal vying against Novak Djokovic for the Coupe des Mousquetaires. Thus, even while Nadal’s win kept the Big Three’s dominance’s niche protected from the younger generations thanks to Thiem, cracks in this supremacy have become palpable. Just as unmistakeable it is to see how Thiem has separated himself from the rest of his peers on the circuit – both among his age-group and the younger pros.
With the ‘NextGen’ frenzy mushrooming, and each juvenile millennial’s performance being examined for finesse and fallacies after every match, Thiem’s French Open sojourn was a reality check of its own. In that it reiterated how men’s tennis needed to leave its youngsters alone for them to set their own rhythm and pace when it came to tackling the bigger titles.
“Even though I didn’t win the tournament, still, two years finals in a row, it’s nice. I think that I developed my game,” Thiem acknowledged in his post-final press conference in Paris. “I was also closer than last year in the finals, I have the feeling, I mean, especially in the first two sets. So, I’m on the right way. And I failed today, but my goal and my dream (are) still to win this tournament or to win a Grand Slam tournament. I will try my best next year again.”
But after having said so, in a roundabout way, Thiem admitted it was tougher for him to play against Nadal merely a day after he had beaten Djokovic in Saturday’s semi-final, on 8th June. “That’s a unique and also brutal thing, I guess, in our sport, in tennis, that I won six amazing matches. I beat yesterday one of the biggest legends of our game. Not even 24 hours later, I have to step on court against another amazing legend of our game, against the best clay-court player of all time. That also shows how difficult nowadays it is to win a Grand Slam,” Thiem observed.
Thiem’s comments cannot be perceived as excuses about his inability to carry his momentum from the semi-final to the final. Nonetheless, they also do not fit well for a potential Major champion. This, despite the tournament organisers short-changing the two-time Roland Garros finalist once too many in the course of the tournament.
These occurrences, especially the way his semi-final against Djokovic was truncated partway on Friday, 7th June, should have been Thiem’s catalysts to impose himself – and his stature – as a player whose interests were also prioritised by the event organisers. Thiem succinctly verbalised his irritation in the way his press conference was shifted to a smaller room to accommodate Serena Williams’. He was unable to do the same – with his actions on the court – when they mattered the most in the last couple of days in the tournament.
Inconvenient scheduling notwithstanding, had Thiem found it in himself to either determinedly win his semi-final in four sets, or jostle Nadal in their final in a firmer manner, the learning curve’s scope would have been entirely different. As it would have been demonstrative.
That the Big Three for all their pre-eminence in all these years have let their games be their voice. Not only to speak up for them when their routes in tournaments are easy enough but also when their paths are the toughest, at their worst.
