Page 20 - ARUBA TODAY

A20 SPORTS
Monday 11 June 2018

Nadal wins 11th French Open title by beating Thiem in 3 sets

By HOWARD FENDRICH cause he couldn’t straight- play would likely lead to
AP Tennis Writer en his left middle finger. At a loss, why not try for the
PARIS (AP) — As Rafael the following changeover, spectacular, instead?
Nadal and Dominic Thiem Nadal was given a salt pill So that’s what Thiem tried.
warmed up before the by a doctor and had his He pounded huge serves,
French Open final, the left forearm massaged by topping 135 mph (220 kph)
booming voice of an an- a trainer. — about 25 mph (40 kph)
nouncer at Court Philippe “Tough moment in the third more than Nadal’s fastest
Chatrier called out each set when I got a little bit — and that translated into
player’s bona fides. cramped on the hand,” seven aces, but also five
Nadal’s introduction in- Nadal said. “I was very double-faults.
cluded a year-by-year scared.” He attempted drop shots;
accounting of every time Nadal’s form never wa- some worked, some didn’t.
he’d already won the ti- vered, though, and soon And he took the biggest
tle at Roland Garros. The enough he was celebrat- of big cuts on his ground-
crowd responded, initially ing his 17th Grand Slam strokes, his feet leaving
offering polite applause, title overall, second among the ground as he threw his
then adding their voices, men only to Roger Feder- whole body into them, as
rising into a full-throated er’s 20. The two stars have if the very outcome of the
roar. combined to win the past match — not any individu-
Go ahead and 2018 to six majors. al point, but the whole she-
the lengthy list. Nadal The victory also allowed bang — depended on the
won his record-extending the 32-year-old Nadal to strength of that one whip
11th championship at the hold onto the No. 1 rank- of his white racket. That led
French Open on Sunday, ing, just ahead of Federer. to 34 winners (eight more
overcoming a late prob- Nadal called it “not even a than Nadal), but also 42
lem with a finger on his dream” to gather 11 titles in unforced errors (18 more
racket-swinging hand and Paris, saying it was “impos- than Nadal).
displaying his foe-rattling sible to think of something It worked. For a bit.
best for a 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 vic- like this.” Thiem stayed with Nadal in
tory over No. 7 seed Thiem, Thiem, a 24-year-old from the early going on a cloudy
the only person to beat the Austria, was appearing and steamy afternoon; the
Spaniard on clay over the in a major final for the first temperature was 77 de-
Spain’s Rafael Nadal reacts while holding the after defeating past two seasons. time. Not much more of a grees (24 Celsius), the hu-
Austria’s Dominic Thiem in the men’s final match of the French
Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium, Sunday, Up a break at 2-1 in the daunting task than doing midity approached 70 per-
June 10, 2018 in Paris. Nadal won 6-4, 6-3, 6-2. third set, Nadal stopped so against this particular cent. Midway through the
Associated Press serving after a fault be- opponent at the French opening set, Nadal’s aqua
Open, where Nadal is now T-shirt was so soaked with
11-0 in finals and 86-2 over- sweat it stuck to him, so he
all. changed into a fresh one
The only losses came at a changeover, drawing
against Robin Soderling catcalls from spectators.
in the fourth round in 2009 From 4-all, 15-all in the
and Novak Djokovic in the opening set, Thiem fal-
quarterfinals in 2015. tered. After Nadal held
“What you did and what there for 5-4, Thiem basi-
you are doing,” Thiem told cally handed over the next
Nadal during the trophy game — and the set — by
ceremony, “is one of the making four mistakes in a
most outstanding things row. A volley into the net. A
that any athlete is doing in forehand wide. A forehand
any sport.” into the net. A forehand
If there were any reason long. Just like that, Nadal
for a bit of intrigue entering was off on a five-game run
Sunday’s match, it was this: that put him up 3-0 in the
Thiem beat Nadal in two second set.
sets on red clay at Rome The conditions might have
in May 2017 and again at contributed to the cramp-
Madrid last month. ing that affected Nadal
“I am sure you will win about two hours into the
here in the next couple of final. His finger bent awk-
years,” Nadal told Thiem wardly and he pulled at
afterward. it. He removed the taping
Nadal is so dominant and from his left forearm, and
so impervious on clay, in maybe that let the blood
general, and at this tourna- flow better.
ment, especially, it made After guzzling water dur-
sense for Thiem to go for ing his visit from the doctor,
broke as much as pos- Nadal was back to playing
sible, accepting that there his unmistakable brand of
would be risks along with nearly unbeatable clay-
the rewards. If standard court tennis.q