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Nadal clinches the Roland Garros final in straight sets for the fifth time

Another Roland Garros, another round of history made by Rafael Nadal.

The World No. 1 beat first-time Grand Slam finalist Dominic Thiem 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 to clinch his 11th title on the Parisian terre battue. He is now one of just four players to claim three or more major championships after turning 30 (also Roger Federer, Rod Laver and Ken Rosewall). Nadal will retain his spot atop the ATP Rankings on Monday thanks to the victory.

Thiem was trying to become just the second Austrian to earn a major trophy, and he was the only man to defeat Nadal on clay over the past two seasons. This is how the final unfolded...

SET 1 — Nadal wins 6-4 (59 minutes)
In a way, it was no surprise that Rafael Nadal got off to a fast start, winning the first six points of the match and breaking for a 2-0 lead. But if there were any thoughts of the top seed immediately running through Dominic Thiem for his 11th title on Court Philippe-Chatrier, the Austrian dismissed those when he recovered that early break against the Spaniard, loosening up and taking massive cuts from the baseline.

The first set featured many long, grinding rallies, with the first seven games lasting more than 45 minutes. Thiem struggled to land his first serve, making them just 45 per cent of the time, and winning just 57 per cent of those points. But the good news is that he was looking to put the match on his racquet, crushing forehands and controlling the baseline. The eight-time clay-court ATP World Tour champion showed he was not afraid of the moment in his maiden major final, whipping high, heavy shots to Nadal's backhand before stepping in to attack the first short ball he got, even jumping into some backhands just to take them early.

But the problem with being very aggressive is opening up the possibility of more mistakes. And while Thiem did get off to a fast start, all it took was one lapse to slip against Nadal, and that's what happened as the right-hander served at 4-5. The 24-year-old missed a simple backhand volley into the open court — he was 0/4 at net in the first set — to fall behind, and then made three consecutive groundstroke errors to hand the Spaniard the opening set.

While Nadal camped way back to return Thiem’s serve, the No. 7 seed stood up on returns, looking to be the aggressor from the first shot. He did hit three double faults in the first set, as well.

Nadal

First-Set Stats
Player First-Serve % First-Serve Pts Won Second-Serve Pts Won Winners Unforced Errors
Rafael Nadal 65% 76% 55% 10 12
Dominic Thiem 45% 57% 43% 11 18

SET 2 — Nadal wins 6-3 (52 minutes)
Nadal wasted no time jumping on Thiem's lapse from the end of the first set. While the Spaniard took advantage of short balls and even snuck into net successfully, he started the second set by putting the aggressive Austrian in uncomfortable positions, from which Thiem made errors.

In fact, Thiem made eight unforced errors in the first three games of the set to fall behind a quick break. And while he landed 83 per cent of first serves (15/18) through two service games, a massive improvement, the early break was too much to overcome. Nadal has lost just nine tour-level matches on clay after winning the first set, with the last instance coming two years ago in Rio de Janeiro against Pablo Cuevas.

Thiem began to find his range again from the baseline, but Nadal did not allow him to control rallies. The seventh seed had an opportunity to get back on serve at 2-4, but could not do enough at net, and the Spaniard saved the break opportunity with a backhand winner. The Austrian slightly dialed back his aggression to avoid too many unforced errors. Therefore, he never quite pushed the World No. 1 into positions in rallies from which he could not neutralise with his next shot.

Thiem

Second-Set Stats
Player First-Serve % First-Serve Pts Won Second-Serve Pts Won Winners Unforced Errors
Rafael Nadal 59% 84% 46% 6 7
Dominic Thiem 78% 68% 50% 14 12

SET 3 — Nadal wins 6-2 (51 minutes)
Thiem did well to mentally stay engaged, recovering from 0/40 in his first service game of the set. He then managed to save another break point at 1-1 with a backhand drop shot, taking advantage of Nadal's deep return position.

But the Spaniard earned the decisive blow soon after, stepping into an inside-out forehand to force Thiem into a slice forehand, which he missed to give Nadal a daunting lead.

Thiem attempted to problem-solve, mixing up his return position and standing back more often. But that allowed the 10-time champion to set his feet and dictate play with his forehand from the first ball of rallies. Nadal appeared to suffer from cramp in his left hand, receiving treatment on multiple occasions early in the set, but that did not visibly affect his play

If his performance was not already impressive enough, Nadal earned a double-break lead by finding an incredible angle on a crosscourt backhand return from well behind the baseline, forcing Thiem to go for broke down the line and make an error. Nadal then clinched the triumph on his fifth championship point, when Thiem flicked a backhand return long.

Third-Set Stats
Player First-Serve % First-Serve Pts Won Second-Serve Pts Won Winners Unforced Errors
Rafael Nadal 83% 85% 25% 10 5
Dominic Thiem 56% 77% 14% 9 12

Did You Know?
- Nadal is now 111-2 in best-of-five matches on clay.
- The Spaniard holds an 86-2 record at Roland Garros.
- The 32-year-old has won five of his 11 championship matches on Court Philippe-Chatrier in straight sets.

Match Stats
Player First-Serve % First-Serve Pts Won Second-Serve Pts Won Winners Unforced Errors
Rafael Nadal 68% 82% 46% 26 24
Dominic Thiem 57% 67% 34% 34 42

RAFAEL NADAL should have been punished for breaking a crucial rule during the French Open final, claims Greg Rusedski and Annabel Croft.
By MIKAEL MCKENZIE
17:54, Sun, Jun 10, 2018 | UPDATED: 19:13, Sun, Jun 10, 2018






1

Rafael Nadal WINS his eleventh French Open title
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Nadal won his 11th French Open title by comfortably beating Dominic Thiem 6-4, 6-3, 6-2.

Dduring the third set the world No 1 twice called for the physio to come and attend to his wrist problem.

However, Nadal has since claimed that the issue was down to cramp - but tournament rules prevent players from having treatment for that issue.

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“This is quite extraordinary,” Rusedski told Eurosport.


“He stops the point and he is allowed to have a medical time-out to diagnose it, but he is not allowed to have treatment for cramping.

Rafael Nadal French Open finalGETTY

Rafael Nadal won his 11th French Open title
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Rafael Nadal [AFP/Getty Images]
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This is very contentious because he should probably have got a time violation after the assessment

Greg Rusedski

“Earlier in the tournament during [Robin] Haase against [David] Goffin they said ‘no you’re not allowed any treatment, you have got to get on and play with it’.

“So this is very contentious because he should probably have got a time violation after the assessment and they need to figure out what the rules are there.”

Croft added that Nadal will now have to fully explain himself for breaking the rule.

“You could almost see the hand start cramping up as the fingers go stiff - it’s a horrible feeling,” Croft said.


Rafael Nadal French Open finalGETTY

The Spaniard avoided an injury scare to beat Dominic Thiem in straight sets
“Maybe he was thinking 'I need to get this tape off, I need an assessment'.

“What I was really shocked at was that he told us it was cramp in the interview afterwards and then he had treatment for it.

“I know he will have a lot of questions about that in the press conference because you are not meant to have treatment for cramp

SUNDAY 10 JUNE 2018 - IAN CHADBAND
Eleven amazing facts about Rafa’s record-extending “Undecima” at Roland-Garros.

Rafael Nadal, Roland-Garros 2018
©Julien Crosnier / FFT
One
By winning his 11th title here, Nadal has become only the second player in history to win 11 singles titles at a single Grand Slam event, equalling Margaret Court’s record set at the Australian Open when she won seven straight titles between 1960 and 1966, three more between 1969 and 1971 and a final triumph in 1973.

Two
Rafa’s triumphs have come in three spells too, starting with a four-win streak between 2005 and 2008 and then another five between 2010 and 2014. The bad news for his opponents? He’s now started another streak, having won the last two titles... and, doubtless, counting.

Three
Rafa is the only man ever to have won 11 titles at the same event - and he has now done this at three separate tournaments, having also won 11 times in Monte-Carlo and Barcelona. Martina Navratilova’s all-time record of 12 wins in Chicago between 1978 and 1992 will be his next target.

Read more
Match points: Nadal vs Thiem

Four
Rafa has won all 11 finals he has contested at Roland-Garros and no man has even taken him to five sets during that run. Altogether, he has lost just six sets in Roland-Garros finals. Even more incredibly, he’s lost only 25 sets in total during his Roland-Garros career and didn’t lose a single one in either his 2008, 2010 or 2017 campaigns.

Five
Never mind 11, this was win number 111 in best-of-five-set matches on clay for Nadal - and he’s only ever lost twice during that same period. This was his 86th victory against two losses at Roland-Garros.

Six
Only two men can make the claim of being a Rafa tamer at Roland-Garros: Swede Robin Soderling in the round of 16 in 2009 and Novak Djokovic in the 2015 quarter-finals.

Seven
Nadal, in his 14th tournament, is the leading performer in Roland-Garros history with his 86-2 record. That’s 21 more wins here than Roger Federer (65-16), Novak Djokovic (63-13) and Guillermo Vilas (58-17).

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Eight
Rafa has beaten every opponent he has faced at Roland-Garros during ‘La Undecima’ run - and no-one can boast a winning record against him here. Robin Soderling won famously in 2009 but lost on three other occasions and while Djokovic beat him in 2015, that only came after six defeats at Rafa’s hands. Even Roger Federer, his greatest rival, has a 0-5 record here against Nadal.

Nine
Nadal’s ‘Undecima’ was his 57th career clay-court title - that’s eight more than any other man in the Open era, eclipsing Vilas’s total of 49.

Ten
At 24, Dominic Thiem, Rafa’s unfortunate opponent on Sunday, was the youngest Roland-Garros men’s finalist since Rafa himself in 2010 - the year in which Nadal became a five-time champion here.

Eleven
In 2005, when Nadal started his title-winning run here, Jacques Chirac was still the President of France, George W. Bush was the US President and the video-sharing website YouTube was founded.