Tsitsipas Ambushed Nadal As Djokovic Egdes Out Thiem In Madrid Tennis

Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece celebrates against Spanish Rafa Nadal during their Mutua Madrid Open tennis semifinal game played at Caja Magica in Madrid, Spain, 11 May 2019. EPA-EFE/JAVIER LIZON

 

 

By Alix Ramsay

 

Roger Federer felt that it would do him a bit of good to suffer on the clay; Rafa Nadal wanted to make his opponent suffer on the clay.

 

Neither of them got their wish – Rodge went out in the quarters of the Mutua Madrid Open (and is now merely disappointed rather than suffering as he makes his final decision whether to play in Rome or not) and Rafa was beaten in the semis having fought hard enough but not well enough to beat Stefanos Tsitsipas.

 

It really wasn’t a good day for Raf. He went out to practice at 5pm when the sun was shining and the air was warm. And then he went to play at 8pm and the temperature had dropped and the conditions were very different. That was not the reason why he lost 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 but it was just another miserable, annoying detail in an altogether lousy shift at the office.

 

Tsitsipas, never forget, is the bloke who knew he had the game to beat Raf on any surface except clay. Back in Australia, he had set Melbourne alight by beating Fed and backing that up with a win over Roberto Bautista Agut. And then he was marmalised by Raf in the semi-final. He had pushed Raf on a hard court before, but he had also taken a walloping from him on clay – and he knew his place in the clay court pecking order.

 

“On clay, it was a different story,” Tsitsipas said in January. “I felt like I had no chance after losing in Barcelona 6-1, 6-2. I felt like he’s on completely another level on clay than on hard.”

 

And then he played Rafa on Saturday in what is turning out to be Raf’s worst clay court run. And he won. After three losses on the bounce against the Spaniard, Tsitsipas had finally got his revenge.

 

“You cannot imagine the relief,” he said. “It’s unbelievable. I don’t want to say this, but it almost felt like I lost hope at some point. Was three in a row. I felt in Toronto when I played him, I was very close and this match kind of gave me a bit of confidence I can do bet in the future, but then it was too much.

 

“Really happy that I overcame this and dealt with it mentally. Yeah. Beating him on clay makes it even more special.”

 

As for Rafa, he took defeat in his own, stoic way. He thought he was making progress this past week but when it came to the crunch, he could not find his game and he could not make any headway with his forehand.

 

After a career of dominating the clay court swing, he has yet to make a clay court final this year. It is not the sort of preparation he was hoping for in the lead-up to Roland Garros. Yet losing is all part of the business of being a sportsman and while it is not a usual occurrence on clay for the 11-time French Open champion, not winning is not a massive surprise to him.

 

“I think that it’s more normal what is happening right now, than what happened in the last 14 years, let’s say,” Rafa said. “So, I think I have tennis ahead of me. I have time ahead of me. I’ll be able to try to win this kind of tournament that I was not able to win this year. And what I have to do is to be fit and to play properly and a high tennis level.

 

“If I manage to do that next year, I think I will still have a very good opportunity to fight for all of these titles and for the rest of the year, I still have two tournaments. And we will see what happens there.

 

“I think I have done a few steps forward, maybe not enough, but I have improved some things and we will see until when I can be able to play at a high level and I think I will be able to continue. And if I’m not able to do these things properly, that is the end of the situation, period.”

 

As for what went wrong, the answer was simple: his forehand was on the blink.

 

“My feeling was I didn’t create enough damage when I was hitting the forehand,” he said. “Of course he played well, he played with power and he’s aggressive. But my feeling is in the intermediate balls, in the normal balls, I was not able to create in him the feeling that he was going to suffer when I was hitting the forehand. That’s my feeling. And when an opponent is not feeling that, he plays more comfortably.”

 

Tsitsipas is unlikely to feel comfortable against Novak Djokovic in the final. The world No.1 squeezed past Dominic Thiem 7-6, 7-6, coming from behind in both sets but, in the end, playing two good tiebreaks.

 

“A very important match for me,” Djokovic said. “A very important win against one of the best players in the world in general this year and especially on clay with wins against Nadal and Federer obviously. And winning the tournament in Barcelona. He’s in great form.”

 

Djokovic is desperately looking for a title to bolster his confidence before he gets to Paris and the French Open. Since winning the Australian Open, his form has nosedived and he needs to get back into the winning groove if he is to claim his second non-calendar year Grand Slam. The fact that he lost the only match he has ever played against Tsitsipas – in Canada last summer – will not make him sleep any easier but the fact that Tsitsipas has never played Djokovic on clay is doing the Greek no favours, either.

 

“I have never faced him on clay so I don’t know what to expect,” Tsitsipas said. “I’m going to try to analyse some things to see the way he tries to play on clay.

 

“I have seen plenty of his matches, but I’m going to try to adapt to the way he is playing on clay as fast as I can because I’m pretty sure he is not easy on clay, as on hard. He actually is one of the guys that beat Rafa on clay. I’m going to have to be mentally focused and also psychologically ready for a fight. That will be very important in tomorrow’s match.”

 

With the blissful innocence of youth, Tsitsipas makes it all sound so simple: pay attention and you can win. He might be right, too, but it does not really matter. What matters to Djokovic and Nadal is the French Open – both have their hearts set on success at Roland Garros and no matter what happens in the Madrid final, it is only Paris that counts.