It’s fitting that the biggest rivalry of this clay season will conclude on Court Philippe-Chatrier. Rafael Nadal and Dominic Thiem have already met three times in the past six weeks and will battle one more time on Friday for a spot in the Roland Garros final. There will be no surprises when they share the court once again. Both players have a healthy respect for each other and the weapons they bring to the court. Nadal acknowledged the Austrian’s power and that he “doesn’t give you a lot of options.” With his massive forehand, backhand and big serve, Thiem is one of very few players with the firepower to make life uncomfortable for Nadal on clay. Meanwhile, Thiem praised Nadal’s...
Rafael Nadal maintained his bid for ‘La Decima’, 10 Roland Garros titles, on Wednesday after a quarter-final victory over fellow Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta. Fourth seed Nadal was leading 6-2, 2-0 when No. 20 seed Carreno Busta retired due to abdominal injury after 51 minutes of play. Carreno Busta had received treatment for a stomach muscle complaint at the end of the first set, which had featured six breaks of serve. Nadal, who celebrated his 31st birthday on Saturday, is now 22-1 on clay this year, which includes three trophies at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters, the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell and the Mutua Madrid Open. He will next face Dominic Thiem in Friday’s semi-finals. "I'm playing well, I'm moving ahead,"...
Rafael Nadal may be peerless on clay with nine titles and a 76-2 record at Roland Garros, but Toni Nadal still admits he feels nervous if his nephew wins too easily. Nadal has lost just 20 games in four matches this year at the clay-court Grand Slam championship and remains on track to capture his 10th trophy without dropping a set – as he did at Roland Garros in 2008 and 2010. “I am always scared when we win easily,” admitted Toni Nadal. “Then you have a close match where you are 4-4, 5-5 and you get surprised to reach that stage… The first week has been perfect or at least that’s what the results show. Rafael has won his...