French Open: Djokovic beaten by young gun Dominic Thiem, ‘tanking’ the last set
Novak Djokovic is out of the French Open after losing to Dominic Thiem in straight sets in the quarterfinals.
The reigning French Open champion, Novak Djokovic, is out, being accused of “tanking” the last set of his quarterfinal against Dominic Thiem, which he lost, 7-6, 6-3, 6-0.
Tanking is not a word you associate with Djokovic, but with a devastating last set where he couldn’t get a game in, that’s what John McEnroe said, commentating on Eurosport:
“It looks right now as if Djokovic doesn’t want to be on the court. This is tank city.”
Even if it wasn’t intentional, all the spirit seemed to leave the Serb as the match went to a third set, with a hard-hitting Thiem aggressively controlling every point. Accusing Djokovic of tanking really isn’t fair to Thiem, either, who has had a very successful clay season and owns eight ATP victories of his own. The 23-year-old is one of just a few — Alexander Zverev, Nick Kyrgios and David Goffin are others — who are under 27, in the top 20, and having phenomenal success this year.
But during the clay season this year Austria’s Thiem has been on fire. He’s made it two finals, in Madrid and Barcelona, and lost both to Rafael Nadal. But make no mistake, Thiem is ranked No. 7 for a reason and he demonstrated that with the win over the world No 2 today, an avenged victory for the loss he suffered against the Serb in the Rome semifinals a few weeks ago. The one-handed backhand player was 0-5 in a head-to-head before today’s win.
Djokovic has been in a declining slump since his win at Roland Garros last year, but has regained momentum during the clay season this year, making it to the Rome final. By the time today’s match concluded, he looked deflated, with several unforced errors and a struggling backhand.
“Nothing was going my way and everything his way, so pretty bad final set but all in all it was decided in the first set,” said Djokovic afterwards. “I lost that crucial break and he started serving better and backing it up with the first shot. He deserved to win, he was definitely the better player today.”
The former world No. 1 has been suffering from a lack of form since his amazing, dominant run came to an end last year. First, he let go his coach, Boris Becker, with whom he had won six of the 12 Grand Slam titles. Earlier this year he got rid of his entire training team, who had been with him since the beginning.
Hope was pinned on the hiring of coach Andre Agassi, who many thought could inspire the reigning French Open champ to find a way to transition his 30’s into more success. But that hope was dashed as the world No. 2 will not be defending his French crown on Sunday.
“Obviously I always expect a lot from myself, but it’s a fact I’m not playing close to my best,” said Djokovic.
The loss is especially disappointing considering that had progressed in many of the clay tournaments this spring, an improvement from his dismal hard court season earlier this year. But the bageled set is Nole’s first in a grand slam since 2005 and he will lose his number two ranking. He’s also losing to the young players, including 20-year-old Zverev at the Rome tournament.
Thiem will go on to face a resurgent Rafael Nadal in the semifinals, who is going for a decade of Roland Garros supremacy. Even if he loses, he can look back at this clay season as a breakthrough one for him.
“That was amazing for me … Thank you to the crowd, it was a great atmosphere and a lot of fun to play in,” said Thiem. “The conditions were difficult with a lot of wind but I managed to hit the balls cleanly and do well today.”
Regardless of who wins the Coupe de Mousquetaires trophy on Sunday, Thiem’s thrilling run on clay this year is already one of the highlights of the tennis season.