An unlikely two-set defeat at the hands of Dominic Thiem has left Rafa Nadal facing an uphill battle to continue in the ATP Tour. The Spaniard succumbed to a 7-6 (7) and 7-6 (4) defeat on Tuesday afternoon in a match that took two hours and 25 minutes to complete.
For Thiem, the Austrian continued what has been a quite incredible run in the tournament thus far, with the talented 27-year-old having yet to taste defeat. Few expected Nadal to slip to such a defeat, but in what was a very exciting clash of opposing styles, the veteran simply couldn’t find the additional edge which has been synonymous with so many of his career triumphs to date.
Tuesday’s result will go down as Thiem’s sixth-ever victory against Nadal, but only the second on a hard surface. Nadal is sharp, but he isn’t quite where he needs to be in terms of court-fitness, especially on a surface where he has traditionally struggled. In indoor matches, he has only won 93 matches, and this can hardly be considered a coincidence when you have such a vast array of data to analyse.
It was an encounter which ultimately came down to tie breaks, with Nadal having lost all three in a previous battle with Thiem in Australia. This repeated itself in London on Tuesday as Nadal lost both tie breaks, despite having led 5-2 in the first. Nadal will have to wait for the match between Andrey Rublev and Stefanos Tsitsipas on Tuesday evening to know whether he will indeed progress into the semi-final.