Australian Open 2020: Rafael Nadal meltdown against Dominic Thiem
Rafael Nadal’s Australian Open is over, and his demise can be traced back to an uncharacteristic second-set meltdown, where he went from in control to out of chances in the blink of an eye.
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Rafael Nadal’s Australian Open is over, and he has a second set meltdown to thank for it.
The world No.1 enjoyed breaks in the first two sets, only to fritter them away. But it was his meltdown when in control in the second set which crushed the 19-time grand slam champion’s hopes of winning a second Australian Open title.
Nadal was up a break in the second set and looked to have regained control of the match despite trailing by a set when it all fell apart.
Nadal is notoriously slow between points and cut it fine all night on Wednesday - until it blew up in a big way.
But after a gruelling 19-point rally on his serve, Nadal was incensed when chair umpire Aurelie Tourte slapped him with a time violation warning as he gathered his thoughts at a huge point in the match.
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“It’s amazing that after this point you (start the clock) straight away. It’s amazing. You don’t like good tennis,” Nadal said while waving his finger at the chair umpire.
THE BREAK
Things went from bad to worse for the 33-year-old immediately after.
Perhaps with his verbal scuffle with the chair umpire still rattling around in his mind, Nadal went down 0-40 - before handing back his precious break with an ugly double fault, one of just three on the night.
“He is distracted. Clearly, that time violation has rattled him,” Courier said on Channel 9.
“He feels that he has been jobbed and the chair umpire should have realised how those two points were extraordinarily physical in a row.”
For the second set in a row, Nadal had done the unthinkable and squandered key breaks.
“He’s panicking…” says Lleyton Hewitt in commentary.
But more was to come.
HOT UNDER THE COLLAR
Nadal’s complaints have extended to an airconditioning unit which is next to the player bench.
His isn’t working, and on a steamy night in Melbourne that is an issue for the top seed.
“I’m sitting down and it is just not working. It takes too long to get it started,” he says to the chair umpire.
“We need to get that fixed.”
The third set – and potentially this match – was slipping away from Nadal. He’d gone from up a break to serving to avoid going down two sets to love.
THE TIEBREAK
After the pair held serve to force a second tiebeaker, it took just two points for Nadal’s frailties to be exposed.
A world-class net player, Nadal charged in to put away a regulation volley on his serve only to inexplicably bury it into the net.
He walked off with his head in his hands, aware of how costly his mistake had been.
Thiem would surge to a 4-0 lead, with a double-break in his back pocket.
Showing the fight and character that has epitomised his career, Nadal won the next four points to get the tiebreaker back on serve.
But he wouldn’t win another point, with a panicky drop shot at 5-4 giving the Austrian the opening he needed.
THE WASHUP
Nadal would fight back to win the third set in gritty fashion and force Thiem into a fourth, which was a rollercoaster itself.
Thiem broke early – to take an early lead for the first time in the match. But then he tensed up, and was broken when serving for the match at 5-4.
A nervy tiebreak – in which he blew two match points – followed, before he was finally able to eke out the win.
For Nadal, it means that his world No.1 ranking is under serious threat. Should Novak Djokovic seal a record eighth title at Melbourne Park, he will reclaim top spot in the rankings.