Recap: Rafa’s 3 most thrilling matches of 2018

The king of clay and his challenger fight it out on the hard court

#1: Nadal Vs Thiem, US Open Quarter-Final, September 4

Nadal was at it again, the defending US Open champion Rafael Nadal, on the back of two impressive but hard-fought wins against Karen Khachanov & Nikoloz Basilashvili in the third and fourth rounds respectively making his fourth Grand Slam Quarter-Final appearance for the year and his opponent was what they call him the next ‘king of clay’ Dominic Thiem.

The first 24 minutes of the match left everyone in a state of shock as Thiem stunned Nadal taking the opening set 6-0. The expression on the face of Carlos Moya, Rafa’s coach said it all as Rafa’s box witnessed their man sink in the first set in just 24 minutes.

The commentator John McEnroe said on air “He is struggling big time right now, physically there is something off because he is not moving well.” But, Nadal putting the disappointments of first set behind, upped his level of tennis, capitalizing on Thiem’s mistakes broke him twice to win the second set 6-4, drawing even with his opponent.

In the third set, once again Rafa found himself on the ropes trailing 3-5. But what followed was an inspired performance from Rafa, as he won four consecutive games to seal the set at 7-5. It was clearly Thiem’s set but Rafa stole the set very much in the same way as he stole the second set away from Russia’s Karen Khachanov four days back.

The fourth set saw the pair exchange breaks as Thiem refused to throw in the towel just yet. With Thiem serving at 6-4 in the tie-break, Nadal’s unforced error saw Thiem winning the 4th set and the match went the distance at Flushing Meadows in hot & humid conditions.

If the match was already a blockbuster showdown, played under extreme conditions, with players trading body blows, the best was yet to come as the players returned to their ends preparing themselves mentally for a grueling 5th set that was to follow.

There was no break of serves in the 5th set, but there was the edge of the seat rallies, brutal ball-striking shots and some really tense and anxious moments not only for the players but also for the fans witnessing this amazing battle of brute force, swift moments and never give up attitude.

Eventually in the deciding tie-break of the match, with Thiem serving at 5-6, Nadal had a match point. Thiem produced a perfect out-wide serve and as he looked to close the rally, he missed a simple overhead lob from Nadal as he hit the ball long and there was jubilation in Nadal’s camp as he had survived the Thiem storm in 4 hours 49 minutes, the longest match of 2018’s US Open.

It was phenomenal for Nadal to win this match after losing the opening set 0-6 as he showed tremendous composure when under the pump. It was about those small mistakes in the end for Thiem as Nadal’s years of experience helped him prevail yet again in those moments that matter the most.

Such cruel is the game of Tennis that even though Rafa won the match, Thiem won 171 points & 28 games to Nadal’s 166 points and 26 games. But that’s for statisticians to worry about. For others, this epic battle would surely go down as one of the best matches not only for the year but also in the history of US Open, which was by the way 50th edition of the tournament since the beginning of Open Era in 1968.