TL;DW Recap 🎾 Barcelona 1/4 Finals

Nadal's Ridiculous Match Point🎥, Gimelstob Has Rivals, Thiem vs Pella Delivers🔥

Apr 26, 2019

There are lots of images/GIFS in ‘The Racquet’ so it may take a while to load depending on your wifi/4g. I promise it’s worth it 😅.

NO SPOILERS 🎥

If you don't want to see the results yet, and want to catch up with the highlights first, stop scrolling now. (Highlights that are available will be linked here).

Nadal 🎥 Struff

RESULTS 🎾

💥 = Beatdown \ 🤕 = Injury \ ‼️ = Upset \ 🤯 = Epic

Featured Matches

Nadal d Struff: 7-5, 7-5

Nadal ran out to the early break courtesy of an outrageously good return ace:

But, despite looking much better movement and intensity wise (than earlier in the week), some misfiring Nadal forehands, in the face of some very heavy Struff backhands, grabbed the break straight back for the German. Struff was serving bombs (avg 1st speed: 120mph, with some reaching 135+) and had his game-plan locked in from the beginning of the match: he was happy to make aggressive errors, as long as he managed to withhold rhythm from Nadal, seeking to be the one going for the first big strike in each point (the only way to beat, or even takes sets off, a good Nadal on clay). As he so often does however, Nadal pounced when it mattered, coming up with a brilliant return game, with Struff serving to stay in the set at 5*-6, taking the opener after the German could only reach a passing shot with the frame of his racquet.

The 2nd set featured Struff fighting off two break points at 4-4 as Nadal couldn’t quite find his range to take his chances. And the German continued to fight well, crushing backhands and keeping his serve pace up to keep the set close. In what must have felt like deja vu for Struff however, Nadal came up trumps with the German serving to stay in the set once again at 5*-6. A Struff double fault set up three match points for Nadal, who took the 2nd with one of the best passing shots you’ll see all season:

— Absolute joke of a forehand on MP. (TennisTV)

Nadal finished with a very tidy 19 winers to just 8 unforced errors, Struff with a decent 29 winners to 30 errors.

TL;DR: Excellent performance from Struff for about 95% of the match (his backhand in particular was troubling Nadal in both sets), but a couple of loose points under pressure, at the tail end of each set, were his downfall. The German may not have been punished for those lapses vs the rest of the tour, but Nadal will almost always make you pay. As for Rafa, he has looked so much better, in terms of movement and intensity, since he struggled through the match vs L.Mayer a few days ago. His forehand still isn’t quite clicking to the degree that his high standards demand, but there is little doubt he’s moving in the right direction. A true test of his level next up vs Thiem.

Thiem d Pella: 7-5, 6-2

Both players saved break points in a barnstorming start to the match (Pella 4/4 BP’s saved after 2 service games, Thiem 2/2 after 1). The players were producing some really entertaining long rallies, but it was Thiem who managed to break through first, courtesy of a Pella double fault and a wild backhand error. But the Argentine’s lapse was only temporary, as he came up with an amazing backhand to break Thiem straight back a game later. The pendulum then decisively swung in Thiem’s favour at 5-5, the Austrian breaking Pella to serve out the set thanks to winning yet another lung-busting rally.

The 2nd set continued to deliver, with Thiem breaking early on thanks to a fantastic banana-forehand down the line. The double break soon followed with Thiem’s forehand becoming more and more damaging to the Pella backhand:

— Thiem just loading heavy spin into Pella’s backhand corner. (TennisTV)

There was little that Pella could do in the face of a rampant Thiem, with the Austrian closing out the match with his biggest ace of the match. Thiem finished with 26 winners to 26 unforced errors, Pella with 14 winners to 24 errors. Firepower won the day.

TL;DR: That score line (7-5, 6-2) is strangely harsh on Pella, who played a big part in one of the most entertaining matches of the clay season so far. Thiem winning the lung-busting rally on BP at the end of the 1st set was all that separated the two players early on. But as the match went on Thiem’s level just kept elevating. His forehand in particular was borderline unplayable by the time match point rolled around, finding brilliant and consistent range from deep in the court when returning to take charge of numerous Pella service games (Pella won just 47% of his 2nd serve points overall and 9/16 1st serve points in the 2nd set). Thiem sets up a blockbuster semi-final vs Nadal tomorrow.

Nishikori d Carballes Baena: 6-4, 7-5

Nishikori started on fire, picking up where he left off yesterday vs Auger-Aliassime, taking the ball incredibly early once again, dictating with ease vs a constantly running Carballes Baena. A slight wobble appeared when Kei served for the set, but the Japanese saved a couple of break points and took a commanding set lead. The 2nd set was much closer however, with Nishikori pulling out some very clutch tennis to fend off two break points in the face of his energiser bunny of an opponent, but also missing the first 8(!) break chances of his own. Kei finally converted a timely BP at 5-5 and served out the match with relative ease.

TL;DR: Another good (if slightly scrappier than yesterday with 14 FH EU’s and 12 BH UE’s) win for Nishikori. Kei was wasteful on break points, but also superb when facing pressure himself. Carballes Baena caps off an impressive week with a performance full of heart and running. Hopefully a groin strain late in the match won’t derail his momentum.

Medvedev d Jarry: 6-3, 6-4

Pretty routine for Medvedev, whose consistency won the day today and forced Jarry into going for way too much as soon as most of the points extended past 4 shots. Medvedev’s first forehand unforced error came when he was 4*-3 up in the 2nd set(!), which should tell you all you need to know about how easily keeping the ball in court comes to the Russian. Jarry mixed up his tactics nicely however for parts of the 2nd set, having some success serving and volleying:

— Medvedev’s flat strokes make it tough for him to hit good passing shots from as far back as he stands on return, with the flight path of his ball sitting up in easy volley range. Jarry seemed to realise this and had a lot of success late in the 2nd set with serves out wide on the deuce side and S&V. Unfortunately for the Chilean, he missed a sitter of a volley to hand the decisive break to Medvedev. Interesting for future opponents of Medvedev though and this should become more a common strategy against the Russian. (TennisTV)

Unfortunately for Jarry, he was a bit too erratic when it mattered, with his opponent the polar opposite. Another good win for Medvedev, who is quickly refuting all those who doubted his clay court ability.

5 SHOTS OF THE DAY 😮

— Nishikori’s returner 1-2 punch. Cancels out Carballes Baena’s serving advantage and then crushes a huge forehand. (TennisTV)

— Jarry showed some nice touches at the net today. (TennisTV)

— Could be the best match point of the year. (TennisTV)

— Thiem’s forehand turned into a cheat code for much of set 2. (TennisTV)

— The Thiem Pella match was so much fun. Lots of clever cat and mouse points. (TennisTV)

INTERVIEW/PRESSER BEST BITS🎤

Nadal after beating Struff:

Genny SS @genny_ss

Truth is I've felt very well this morning during the warm up practice, but I knew today was one of those days that it's difficult to find a good feeling. It's not that I've played badly, but the rival puts a lot of pressure on you & you don't know if to attack or keep it safer.

Genny SS @genny_ss

At the beginning I was returning from quite far back, but when I've seen that he was approaching the net even with 2nd serves I've moved up closer to the baseline because with his serve, which jumps a lot, and from that far back, it was very easy for him to reach the net

— Nadal went to hit a few more balls on the practice court after the match.

Thiem on facing Nadal tomorrow:

Federico Bertelli @simplythebert

@ThiemDomi: Does not matter in which form is Rafa, facing him on clay it’s the toughest thing possible #bcnopenbs

Federico Bertelli @simplythebert

@ThiemDomi: I will try the same tactic I did in Madrid last year: be very aggressive and play a lot of winners, it’s the only way to beat Rafa #bcnopenbs

ORDER OF PLAY FOR SATURDAY (1/2 FINALS) 📅

PISTA RAFA NADAL

— 1:30pm Local, 12:30pm UK, 6:30am CT—

🇯🇵 Nishikori vs Medvedev 🇷🇺 (H2H: 2-1) (Clay Court H2H: 1-0) 🔥

Prediction: Nishikori in 2

🇪🇸 Nadal vs Thiem 🇦🇹 (H2H: 8-3) (Clay Court H2H: 7-3) 🔥

Prediction: Thiem in 3

EXTRAS 🔍📊🎤

Some thoughts on Gimelstob’s position on the ATP Board:

It’ll be interesting to see what effect, if any, Gimelstob's recent comments have on the ATP Board. Three members (Straka, Humphrey Smith & Forbes) represent the tournaments, who Gimelstob bragged about 'outwitting" a couple of days ago:

So 3 members (two short of required unanimous 5) have an interest in removing him. However both the remaining player representatives (Inglot & Edges) would also need to vote Gimelstob out for the move to be successful, and given Edges’ seeming loyalty to Gimelstob, a unanimous decision looks unlikely. So that shifts responsibility to the Players Council…

If Gimelstob truly is appreciated by players (as stated above) for siding with them instead of tournaments over $, will the Player Council be able to make an ethical decision instead of one based on revenue. This is the most interesting question for me.

They sacked Roger Rasheed over $ late last year. Will they keep JG *because* of $.

—

Interestingly Mike Dickson reported today that there are 6 possible candidates to replace Gimelstob role should he not get re-elected by the council, including Dani Vallverdu:

Christopher Clarey then added this:

— My guess is Blake.

Trenton Jocz @TrentonJocz

Perspective before the 11th Nadal/Thiem match on clay tomorrow: -The next most common clay opponent for Thiem is Lajovic at...6 -The other 16 guys with even 6 clay meetings vs Nadal are all 31+ years old

— The Madrid Masters main draw will take place on Saturday, May 4.

NEW BALLS PLEASE 👀

— TFW there’s a close mark on clay and the camera zooms in with an angle that just make the clay look like a slightly lumpy desert, with zero discernible ball mark.