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Thiem Scores Big Win Over Djokovic at French Open
Today Agassi was not in Djokovic's box and won't be for the remainder of the event but I'm sure he has already had a positive impact on Djokovic. Djokovic started out shakily and almost went a double break down at 0-2 but held on and clawed his way back into the first to eventually force a tiebreak.
After the unconvincing first set, Djokovic pulled away and played some terrific tennis. I thought it was a great effort to defeat the player who won the most clay court matches this year in straight sets. And given how Djokovic ended his last match it is kind of expected.
You wouldn't think from this result that Djokovic is struggling. That's because he isn't. He has been on an upward trend since the beginning of the clay court season and just because he went to five sets in his previous match doesn't mean he is struggling.
If anything it was a good thing because it gave him court time, something he hasn't had much of so far this season. But is is also important that he got a convincing win over a very capable opponent today.
Djokovic plays Thiem in the quarterfinals who defeated Zeballos 6-1, 6-3, 6-1 today. Djokovic leads the head-to-head 5-0 having lost only one set 10-12 in a tiebreak. The two meetings on clay were in last year's French Open semi-final where Djokovic won 6-2, 6-1, 6-4 in a masterclass and in Rome recently where he did the same in a 6-1, 6-0 victory.
I wouldn't read too much into those results. Thiem has easily been one of the best clay court players this season and you never know if Djokovic can have a bad day. That said, it would surprise me if that happens. The quarterfinal stage is usually where Djokovic starts to peak.
But I don't expect something like the Rome semi-final either. Djokovic has progressed with every event since Monte Carlo and the next step would be to peak against Nadal. So I think he won't go all out against Thiem so that he can keep something in the tank for Nadal. But he also needs to put in a confident performance before facing Nadal so it will be interesting to see what happens.
Nadal will play Busta who defeated Raonic 8-6 in the fifth set today to make his first slam quarterfinal. It was understandably an emotional moment for Busta but it would have taken a lot out of him. Not that he had much of a chance against the raging bull, to begin with.
Nadal is on a mission this year and is the favorite for the title but Djokovic has certainly made things interesting after not having much room to work with. If he can continue his trend of improving every event he can still peak against Nadal in the semis. I mean if he plays like he did against Thiem in Rome you are not going to count his chances out.
He is still the anti-Nadal as far as I'm concerned and if anyone can beat Nadal it is him. But we are not there yet and plenty can still happen.
Tomorrow the top half plays their fourth round matches. Wawrinka easily defeated Fognini in the third round so I think he is final bound. Stan seems to be doing something similar this year to 2015 when he was useless for most of the clay court season and then went into the zone in Paris.
Credit to Murray as well for raising his game for the French Open and defeating Del Potro in straight sets. He now plays Khachanov who is one of the Nextgen players who defeated Isner in four sets while Stan plays Monfils. The other two matches are Verdasco vs Nishikori and Anderson vs Cilic.
There isn't one matchup that particularly stands out to me but I feel like they are all relatively interesting. Verdasco has played up to his potential for once while my countryman Anderson has been gradually improving this clay court season as well. It will be interesting to see if either one of them can cause another upset.
As usual, let me know what you think. ...
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