2019 Roland Garros Semifinal: Djokovic vs. Thiem

[Front242]

You mean Schwarzenegger?

Get to tha choppa! His Thiem tune. See what I did there ?

 

[shawnbm]

I picked the Austrian in five but saw not one second of either semifinal match, oddly enough.

 

[tented]

Final stats:

 

[mrzz]

Get to tha choppa! His Thiem tune. See what I did there ?

If there were anonymous posts I would still know from whom this one came from...

 

[don_fabio]

Final stats:

View attachment 2274

Novak broken 9 times after being broken only 2 times before the match. This is what he usually does let's say to Fed.

 

[lob]

..... Hope Roger comes out like his life is on the line at Wimbledon. His stupid decision to waste energy with a weak result here doesn't make me feel any better....

Roger's problem at Wimbledon hasn't been energy. It's been: C.H.O.K.I.N.G.

 

[Bonaca]

Novak broken 9 times after being broken only 2 times before the match. This is what he usually does let's say to Fed.

Roger's problem at Wimbledon hasn't been energy. It's been: C.H.O.K.I.N.G.

So was Novak’s today.
Under better conditions he would have shown Thiem his limits. We all saw what happened when he is on.
Thiem took the gift Novak donates him, all respect for that. Under ugly conditions and lot of pressure.
He can be proud and fucking thankful for this present.

 

[DarthFed]

Roger's problem at Wimbledon hasn't been energy. It's been: C.H.O.K.I.N.G.

No doubt about that, he's done a shit job at Wimbledon over the years with terrible losses in the finals and semis. But energy will always be crucial for him at his age. Wasting time and energy flailing about on clay with predictably no good result to show for it was pure stupidity. The man continues to take his eyes off the big picture.

 

[Carol]

I cant believe how unfair this is. 1 player will be playing for 4 straight days while the other gets rested by playing 2 in 5 days. I hope they postpone the final to Monday so that the final doesnt turn into a farce

Yesterday they could have played both finals perfectly well and anyway they played two sets and today another two sets and a half and I think would have been a lot worse if they would have played to five sets both days like it happened before in others GS. I never forget that tough and long match between Nadal and Verdasco in the AO 2009 and the next day Nadal had to play the final vs Federer and both matches to five sets, that was tough

 

[Bonaca]

Yesterday they could have played both finals perfectly well and anyway they played two sets and today another two sets and a half and I think would have been a lot worse if they would have played to five sets both days like it happened before in others GS. I never forget that tough and long match between Nadal and Verdasco in the AO 2009 and the next day Nadal had to play the final vs Federer and both matches to five sets, that was tough

Your favourite can play 5 consecutive days a 5setter and will mostly win everything.
It is nothing unfair here, because there would be no difference with Thiem winning the SF. He will never beat your guy until he is healthy and not 40y of age.
Only Novak can challenge him really on slow courts.

 

[Ricardo]

So was Novak’s today.
Under better conditions he would have shown Thiem his limits. We all saw what happened when he is on.
Thiem took the gift Novak donates him, all respect for that. Under ugly conditions and lot of pressure.
He can be proud and fucking thankful for this present.

you should thankful that Novak had 3 chances to reset himself everytime Thiem got the lead and had the momentum. you should also recognise the fact that Thiem is simply better than Novak on clay, its on his racquet and his racquet only, as Novak's defence and counterpunching can only do so much...power players like Stan and Thiem will overpower him when they play well, no matter how Novak plays.

 

[Ricardo]

No doubt about that, he's done a shit job at Wimbledon over the years with terrible losses in the finals and semis. But energy will always be crucial for him at his age. Wasting time and energy flailing about on clay with predictably no good result to show for it was pure stupidity. The man continues to take his eyes off the big picture.

semi final at RG is a good result, what have you been drinking? you need to stop being delusional.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

If at all Thiem wins tomorrow, it will be in four sets.

I don't think I need to argue against the possibility of Thiem straightsetting Ralph. A new born bay can dismiss it with the little finger of its left hand.

If it goes to five sets, once again Ralph will win. First of all, in a five set match it will be a war of attrition. Given that Thiem will be playing four days in a row, he is bound to lose any wars of attrition. Further, I think this match against Novak is Thiem's first match that went to 5th set. So, he does not have too much experience in this area.

Thiem does not necessarily have to win the first set, but he must win two sets out of the first three. Otherwise, he is not going to win this.

 

[Moxie]

So was Novak’s today.
Under better conditions he would have shown Thiem his limits. We all saw what happened when he is on.
Thiem took the gift Novak donates him, all respect for that. Under ugly conditions and lot of pressure.
He can be proud and fucking thankful for this present.

I don't agree with this. Yes, the conditions were ugly, and there was the pressure of the Nole Slam looming. And Novak played some crap. But this match wasn't otherwise a "gimme" for Djokovic. Thiem was the one that no one wanted on his half, and Novak drew him. We always knew this would be a tough match. I didn't quote Ricardo's response to you because I don't agree with everything he says, but it is true that Novak got some good luck in the rain delays, and with the stoppage of play yesterday. He needed them...and each time they stopped Thiem's momentum. He got as many opportunities as one could have to turn this around, and I fully thought he would in many of them. He didn't. But it certainly wasn't a gift to Thiem from Djokovic. Thiem could well have won it in 4. He did have MPs.

 

[DarthFed]

semi final at RG is a good result, what have you been drinking? you need to stop being delusional.

How the fuck is that a good result for any top player? Not playing it instead of predictably getting humiliated as soon as he played a contender would have been a better result.

It ended up being a waste to play on clay, an unnecessary farewell tour to clay unless he's crazy enough to play on it next year too.

 

[Moxie]

How the fuck is that a good result for any top player? Not playing it instead of predictably getting humiliated as soon as he played a contender would have been a better result.

It ended up being a waste to play on clay, an unnecessary farewell tour to clay unless he's crazy enough to play on it next year too.

Maybe you should think for a moment about what Roger wants, and not what you, his belligerent fan, wants. He wanted to play the clay season. He also said that he knew that playing Rafa, potentially, was what he signed up for, by playing RG. Anaconne, who coached him and knows him well, says that Roger is an optimist. Roger gave himself a shot this clay season, and did pretty well. You have no idea what that means to him, in the waning years of his career, nor do I. At this stage in his career, Roger gets to do whatever he wants. And you, no matter what, will complain, I'm sure.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

How the fuck is that a good result for any top player? Not playing it instead of predictably getting humiliated as soon as he played a contender would have been a better result.

It ended up being a waste to play on clay, an unnecessary farewell tour to clay unless he's crazy enough to play on it next year too.

1. No Roger did not lose to first serious player he faced. That would be Stan and he won the match. Therefore I would say his RG trip successful considering his age and the fact that he has not played for three years there. On the other hand, if he had lost to Stan, your claim would be valid. Even though QF is not bad, none of his victories were against noteworthy players in the first four rounds.

2. I hope Roger skips RG next year. However, I do hope he plays in the clay season little bit. Perhaps, he should play just MC and Rome.
It would ensure that
a. His game does not get rusty due to long lay off.
b. There is some small chance of winning trophies that are not in his cabinet.
c. He will get some points, although not great to write home about.
But, if he is playing MC, he should skip Miami. Also, if he is skipping RG, he should play both Stuttgart and Halle as it would
help him surpass Connor's record (even though most reasonable people know that he does not need to in view of the
quality of titles that Connors has).

 

[DarthFed]

Maybe you should think for a moment about what Roger wants, and not what you, his belligerent fan, wants. He wanted to play the clay season. He also said that he knew that playing Rafa, potentially, was what he signed up for, by playing RG. Anaconne, who coached him and knows him well, says that Roger is an optimist. Roger gave himself a shot this clay season, and did pretty well. You have no idea what that means to him, in the waning years of his career, nor do I. At this stage in his career, Roger gets to do whatever he wants. And you, no matter what, will complain, I'm sure.

It's all about the big picture. Playing that much on clay was not good especially since he seems set on still playing Halle. You are making my point for me, Roger is being a bit too sentimental these days. I wouldn't complain at all if he sat out all clay season again. Rust wasn't what made him do poorly on grass last year. He was never going to do anything on clay at this point, everyone should have realized that.

 

[MikeOne]

disappointing that weather conditions were a big factor in the two semis. Going into the matches (before results), i thought Thiem and Nadal would benefit, for simple reasons. It's hard to take ball early and hit it cleanly so using spin is a big advantage. Thiem and Nadal's forehands have massive spin and power, they have more margin. Djokovic relies on taking ball early and hitting through court and Federer relies on an aggressive 1st strike type of tennis in his older age, both are tough to do in the wind.. It is what it is though, all 4 players had to deal with the conditions so credit to Thiem and Nadal for the wins.

I'm a big Djokovic fan and what frustrates me about Novak is he can sometimes be extremely mentally tough (AO 5 setters vs Murray, Nadal in 2012 and miraculous comeback against Fed in 2011 US Open) but at times he is prone to mental breakdowns for a set or two. Clearly Novak was in disarray in the first set vs Thiem, he basically gave Thiem that set 6-2! Novak got it together for remainder of the match but giving away a set against Thiem is unacceptable, that was just dumb and he deserved to lose.

 

[DarthFed]

1. No Roger did not lose to first serious player he faced. That would be Stan and he won the match. Therefore I would say his RG trip successful considering his age and the fact that he has not played for three years there. On the other hand, if he had lost to Stan, your claim would be valid. Even though QF is not bad, none of his victories were against noteworthy players in the first four rounds.

2. I hope Roger skips RG next year. However, I do hope he plays in the clay season little bit. Perhaps, he should play just MC and Rome.
It would ensure that
a. His game does not get rusty due to long lay off.
b. There is some small chance of winning trophies that are not in his cabinet.
c. He will get some points, although not great to write home about.
But, if he is playing MC, he should skip Miami. Also, if he is skipping RG, he should play both Stuttgart and Halle as it would
help him surpass Connor's record (even though most reasonable people know that he does not need to in view of the
quality of titles that Connors has).

No one saw Stan as a contender at this point but yes that was a good win. Aside from that he got smashed by Nadal in his 6th best of 5 match on the most grueling surface when he is going on 38 years old. If Wimbledon started 3 weeks later it wouldn't be an issue. But now taking one week off and then playing Halle...the matches will have racked up over the 6-7 weeks before the tournament he is supposed to do well at.