The Approach: How Dominic Thiem became a genuine threat to Nadal, Djokovic and Federer on hard courts

In what’s becoming an increasingly common Grand Slam fixture, Rafael Nadal and Dominic Thiem will face off for the first time at the Australian Open.

While their first three meetings at majors came at Roland Garros – hardly surprising given they have been dubbed the ‘King’ and ‘Prince of Clay’ – the US Open and Australian Open have now been thrown into the mix within the last year-and-a-half, with a second final at the French Open squeezed in between those two hard-court meetings.

Thiem, long viewed as a clay-court specialist, has become a fierce competitor on hard courts in recent times, pushing Nadal in a five-set classic in New York in 2018, beating Roger Federer to win a first Masters 1000 title at Indian Wells six months later before defeating Federer and Novak Djokovic back-to-back at the ATP Finals to close his 2019 season.

This is only his second meeting with Nadal away from clay and if the last one is anything to go by, it should be a cracker.

In the latest edition of The Approach – Metro.co.uk‘s tactical series – British coach Calvin Betton examines how Thiem has improved as a hard-court player and why he can stand up to Nadal better than most players with a one-handed backhand.

How Thiem developed his hard-court game

‘In the ATP Finals he was happy to come forward, he’s a very good volleyer, He forced Federer back with his new-found court position and entirely domnated him. A similar thing happened against Djokovic, who couldn’t take the positions he wanted.

‘Thiem has belief now. He believes he can beat these top players. Would you make him the favourite to win the Australian Open? No. But I do think he’s the most likely player to beat Djokovic and Nadal in the same tournament.’

The tactical battle between Thiem and Nadal

‘Nadal has an incredibly good record against players with a one-handed backhand. Since 2008, he has only lost to Federer (twice), Stan Wawrinka and Steve Darcis in Grand Slams. That’s the entire list,’ Betton adds.

‘He’s always looking to keep them in a backhand cage, hitting backhands above shoulder height, with the intention that under pressure from high, heavy balls, a one hander will usually revert to slicing and floating the ball back.

‘Once they’re pinned there, this allows Nadal the time to move up the court and attack with his down-the-line or inside-out forehand. It was essentially his go-to Plan A against Federer for over a decade, so he’ll use it against all single handers.

‘Thiem is tremendously strong, he’s got a hugely strong upper body so he’s not as intimidated, he doesn’t have such a problem with Nadal hitting high forehands to his backhand as some of the other, smaller players.

‘Nadal loves running players side-to-side, tiring them out, but that’s not such a big problem for Thiem. He’s one of the fittest players on tour but he’s also, in my opinion, the best mover.

‘It’s not just about the speed he moves at but it’s the efficiency he moves with. Players who run at speed often go beyond the hit point and need more steps to recover, but Thiem is one of the best players at not going beyond the ball, making recovery easier. It’s hard to get him off balance.

‘Another issue for Nadal is Thiem’s immense power. Nadal likes to know what his opponents will do next, but Thiem – more than anyone other than a fit Del Potro – has more knockout one-shot power that is capable of hitting winners from any position behind the baseline.

‘Nadal doesn’t like that unpredictability. Thiem is so strong, times the ball so heavy that he can do that.

‘Thiem is happy to play Nadal at his own game, happy to take him on in long gruelling baseline rallies. Very few players believe they can do that, Dominic Thiem is one of them.’

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