Tennis — You Cruel Thing
Sports is truly the greatest teacher that there is. In equal measures for the ones who play, suffer and sweat and for those who risk stopping their hearts while watching their heroes fight like gladiators. And so today, Sports and the game of tennis offered another lesson, another riveting course to those watching, to Rafael Nadal and most importantly to a next gen superstar in Dominic Thiem. Nadal won as expected however unexpected the manner of victory be, but what will remain with me forever are 2 points that Thiem played at the end of the 5th Set.
On serve at 5–5, 0–40 down Thiem fought back and brought it to deuce. And did so when everyone else would have surely written him off, because of who was on the other side of the net. A man too well familiar with cornering and pummeling his opponents when push comes to shove, a man known to twist the knife in the guts when a scrap becomes annoyingly long for him. But this was only the prelude to some enthralling tennis to follow.
Next point, Thiem did the unbelievable. He plays a rock solid forehand and advances to the net, Nadal somehow claws the balls back with his customary tenacity. Thiem with another ferocious forehand to seal the point against anyone on this planet, barring that pugnacious warrior sporting a bandana. Nadal being Nadal turns, stretches and somehow lofts a lob over to the other side. For a waiting Thiem to dispatch an overhead smash. This is where as a Sports fanatic and as a psychologist, you would want to enter into Thiem’s mind. As he hits the smash you can only imagine him hoping that Nadal does not find the extra fuel from the deepest of trenches of his body unknown to medical science, to lob the ball back. The Same Nadal about whom Thiem said that facing him in his first Grand Slam final earlier this year was nothing sort of a horrible experience. So, when Nadal gets to the smash, a storm has to be brewing in Thiem’s mind in that instant — a storm with dark clouds of worry, of impending despair and that resignation of joining the long list of tennis mortals vandalized by Nadal’s superhuman will. Mind you, a smash and a big lob is a long time in tennis for thoughts to creep into your head and becomes even longer at 5–5 and deuce in the fifth set. And so the lob arrives and Thiem meets it with some ferocity in his smash as if his life depended on it. Alas this smash is imperfect allowing Nadal to turn, recover and race to the other end and meet the ball in a favourable position to tee up a cross court backhand pass. At this instant, you have to wonder that those dark clouds of the storm in Thiem’s head would have given way to a thunderous downpour of horror as Nadal sent a rasping cross court backhand destined to pass the forlorn Thiem at the net. But, like a deer caught in the headlights, Thiem lunges with every inch his tiring frame could offer and with the faintest of hopes, produces a drop shot for the ages. A drop shot hit more out of desperation than control. Nadal scampers like only Nadal can but for once comes up agonizingly short of a scrap he is used to seeing out. Thiem pumps his fist. Nadal grins. On we go.
Then in the 5th set tie-break, with Nadal serving 3–2 up, Thiem produced a shot for the highlight reels. Nadal forces Thiem deep in the court with a powerful forehand and advances to the net. Thiem digs out a good backhand of his own. Nadal finely housed at the net produces a drop shot that will win you the point 9 times out of 10. Unluckily for him though, it was that rare 1 out of the 10 moments against a man who by that point of time had taken him on his longest ride in a US Open match in his storied career. Thiem races to the net and meets the ball with artistic precision. He plays a deft cross court backhand drop when Nadal least expects it. Nadal cannot react, barely moves and resigns. How often has that happened in the history of this game. Like a painter finishing those fine thin borders of his masterpiece with immaculate precision, Thiem arrowed that drop shot where the margins of error were slimmest. Rather than going down the line, he takes on Nadal waiting like a terrier on the prowl and surprises him with the timing of the shot. A thing of beauty indeed!
But things only went downhill from there for Thiem as Nadal went into overdrive to reel off 3 points in a row for the win. And in doing so, it revealed the cruel side of sport. Thiem produced arguably the 2 best plays and the greatest match of his life. A match painted with his shades of brilliance and underlined with shots of authority, will only now be reduced as a mere statistic, as an L (for Loss) in the record books, a count of another opponent in the long list of those vanquished by his illustrious counterpart. A tale of what if and what could have been instead of being a moment of crowning glory for someone regarded as heir apparent to the holy troika of Federer, Nadal and Djokovic. But then Sports metes out such lessons and implores the defeated to learn, to dig deep and bounce back with fervor. A fact that Thiem himself knows too well now. Barely 3 months ago, Thiem managed a meagre 9 games in a straight sets loss to a rampaging Rafa in his den at Roland Garros. Yet so soon, today, he lasted the full distance toe to toe, shoulder to shoulder, forehand to forehand and wrestled the same adversary in a titanic showdown for the ages. A defeat like this is hard to take, scathes the body and more crucially the mind. But it also offers hope as it should to Thiem that he belongs in the big league with the big dogs in their yard which he can soon call his own. So, when Thiem would have gone to bed tonight, he would have probably thought out loud, “Tennis, you cruel thing”, but with a tinge of smile albeit a rueful one.