After having long undergone his law, the Austrian Dominic Thiem signed his first Grand Slam victory over Rafael Nadal, defeated in four sets in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open, Wednesday January 29 in Melbourne (7-6, 7-6, 4-6, 7-6).
On Friday, for his first semi-final in Melbourne, he will face German Alexander Zverev, who qualified earlier for the first time in his career in the last four of a Grand Slam by defeating Swiss Stan Wawrinka (15e) 1-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2. The other poster, Thursday, is classic and will see Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer face off.
"I was lucky at the critical moments, the net was on my side. But Rafa is one of the best in the world and you always have to be lucky to beat him ", commented Thiem.
Unusually irritated Nadal
Thiem and Nadal had already faced each other thirteen times, and if the Austrian had won four of these duels, Nadal had won all those (5) who had disputed in the framework of a Grand Slam, including the last two finals of Roland-Garros. But for the sixth game in a Major, the Austrian proved to be too strong for the Spaniard.
The two men started the match with all their strength, then they increased their strikes and ended up hitting even harder … Thiem did not let go of an inch in physical combat. At most, he was feverish when it came to serving for the 5-4 match in the 4e set. "It was a bit special to serve against Nadal to qualify for my first semi-final in Melbourne … I did not hold the pressure", he conceded.
In the first two sets, Nadal took on the Austrian, who each time managed to come back and win the tie-break. Nadal showed signs of nervousness. "It's amazing that after a dot like that, you can start the countdown so quickly. You don't like good tennis ", he said to the referee who had just sanctioned him for exceeding service time.
His explosion of joy by winning the 3e sleeve was significant both of his will and his relief. In the 4e set, it was Thiem this time who broke and failed to conclude on his serve at 5-4, leaving Nadal to equalize at 5-5 by committing direct faults. But he concluded at the 3e match point in the deciding game.
"I like titles! "Warns Zverev
“No one can imagine what it means to me. I worked very hard to improve my service and the work pays today, at the best time, because it is in Grand Slam that you have to play your best tennis ", meanwhile launched Alexander Zverev after his victory against Wawrinka.
"I was ready to explain to journalists why I lost in three sets", recognized the German in reference to the express loss of the first run. "I needed a set to get used to his ball", he argued.
Zverev, who has already won three Masters 1000 titles (Rome 2017, Canada 2017 and Madrid 2018) and won in the 2018 End-of-Season Masters in London, has never made it past the quarters in Major. However, he believes that reaching the half-years of a Grand Slam at the age of 22 is not yet "The best day of (her) life ".
"I'm sorry but I like titles! ", said the player who reached the 3e World place in the ranking in 2017, becoming the youngest player to reach the podium since Novak Djokovic in 2007.
After his first round, he had announced that he would pay 10,000 dollars per victory and even the entire bonus (up to 4.12 million Australian dollars, or 2.5 million euros, for the winner) in support for victims of fires ravaging Australia.
"It was easy to say after the first round, huh? But it still is! With this 4 million Australian dollars, I could buy cars but there are people who need this money to rebuild their house. My parents always taught me that you need to help people in need ", he said.
