French Open: Thiem vs Djokovic

For the first time since  July 2014, Novak Djokovic is not the holder of any of the 4 majors. This time last year Novak Djokovic had become the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to hold all 4 majors at the same time.

The Serbian World.no 2 was annihilated 7-6, 6-3, 6-0 by 6^th seeded Austrian, Dominic Thiem in the last 8 of the French Open.

Thiem seemed unperturbed by a rain delay which resulted in the re scheduling of his quarter final match to early morning on Wednesday. He stepped out onto the clay against a man who had destroyed him 6-1, 6-0 just 2 weeks back at the semi-final stage in Rome.

From the moment the match started Thiem unleashed his wicked single handed backhand(the shot is even better on clay as the surface offers him more time to play the shot), which in my opinion is the best shot in the game. It beats Wawrinka’s powerful flat backhand and Federer’s artistic backhand strokes.

The backhands were powerful and deep and Djokovic’s returns were not deep. The clay caused the ball to sit up, right in Thiem’s hitting zone.

 Djokovic offered a fight in the 1^st set before squandering 2 set points at 4-5, 15-40. He lost the game and eventually and lost the set in a tie breaker.

Thiem broke early in the second set and showed no signs of slowing down thereby not allowing Djokovic to get a foot in the door. The backhand barrage continued and forehands flashed past the faltering Djokovic. Thiem wrapped up the second set and broke Djokovic in the 1^st game of the 3^rd set. He held his own serve and followed it up with two more breaks of serve and raced out to a 5-0 lead in just 17 minutes. Down a triple break, Djokovic’s will to fight back seemed to have been bulldozed aside by the Austrian. On match point Djokovic put in an effort that is associated with him and saved it, however it was business as usual on the next point with Thiem sealing the match with one last backhand winner, and advancing to his second straight semi-finals in Paris. With this win he avenged his last years semi-final defeat to the same opponent.

Djokovic must have been reminded of the 2015 French Open Final when Wawrinka's single handed backhand blew him off the court. The third set which was Djokovic's first bagel set loss at the Slams since the 2005 U.S.Open, saw him win just 8 points across the set. Djokovic will fall out of the world's top 2 for the first time since 2011 and it his first Grand Slam straight sets defeat since the 2013 Wimbledon final to Andy Murray.

Though the Djokovic-Thiem encounter may have deprived us of the much anticipated Nadal-Djokovic clash, we will see the 9 time French Open Champion, Rafael Nadal take on Dominic Thiem who is the only man to notch up a victory against him on the red dirt this season(Rome Quarters) Nadal did beat Thiem en route title wins in Madrid and Barcelona.

 Hopefully the win over Djokovic isn’t a pyrrhic victory. He did it in straight sets and should have enough left in the tank to compete against the Mallorcan Matador. If Thiem can bring his today’s self onto court, Nadal’s quest for La Decima could be under serious threat.