Dominic Thiem believes the key to beating Rafael Nadal is playing with pace and power, although he accepts its a risky strategy.
The Austrian will meet the world No. 1 for the first time away from a clay court – their 11th contest overall – having last met in the French Open final earlier this year.
Thiem has enjoyed success against the 32-year-old in the past, picking up three wins against the Spaniard on his favoured surface, and hes in a confident mood having arrived at a quarter-final of a major for the first time outside of Paris.
The world No. 9 was asked to reflect on his past successes over Nadal after his sterling victory against Kevin Anderson on Sunday, and he outlined his plans for beating the world No. 1.
I think that I have very powerful ground strokes, and I can even hurt him with them, he said.
But the key is to play really fast and powerful. But on the same time, not make too many mistakes.
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Yeah, I did it sometimes against him, but its a risky game style also, because it can happen that I make too many mistakes and then it looks black.
To compete with him well, I always have to have a great day, and I have to play well. But I did today, so I just keep up my habits.
I will practice tomorrow. Of course, I will practice some things which might be useful on Tuesday, but everything else I wont change that much.
While Thiem believes he can cause the top seed real problems, he rejected the notion that his game is ideal to down the world No. 1.
Well, I think nobodys game really matches up well with his, he added. Thats why hes so unbelievably successful.
No matter what, its always really tough to play against him. As I said, Im really looking forward to see how it is on a different surface than clay.
More: Tennis
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Dominic Thiem believes the key to beating Rafael Nadal is playing with pace and power, although he accepts its a risky strategy.
The Austrian will meet the world No. 1 for the first time away from a clay court – their 11th contest overall – having last met in the French Open final earlier this year.
Thiem has enjoyed success against the 32-year-old in the past, picking up three wins against the Spaniard on his favoured surface, and hes in a confident mood having arrived at a quarter-final of a major for the first time outside of Paris.
The world No. 9 was asked to reflect on his past successes over Nadal after his sterling victory against Kevin Anderson on Sunday, and he outlined his plans for beating the world No. 1.
I think that I have very powerful ground strokes, and I can even hurt him with them, he said.
But the key is to play really fast and powerful. But on the same time, not make too many mistakes.
Advertisement Advertisement
Yeah, I did it sometimes against him, but its a risky game style also, because it can happen that I make too many mistakes and then it looks black.
To compete with him well, I always have to have a great day, and I have to play well. But I did today, so I just keep up my habits.
I will practice tomorrow. Of course, I will practice some things which might be useful on Tuesday, but everything else I wont change that much.
While Thiem believes he can cause the top seed real problems, he rejected the notion that his game is ideal to down the world No. 1.
Well, I think nobodys game really matches up well with his, he added. Thats why hes so unbelievably successful.
No matter what, its always really tough to play against him. As I said, Im really looking forward to see how it is on a different surface than clay.
More: Tennis
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