French Open 2019 Men's Finals: Results, Stats for Rafael Nadal vs. Dominic Thiem
June 10, 2019
Rafael Nadal won his 12th French Open title at Roland-Garros on Sunday with a four-set victory over Dominic Thiem.
The Spaniard overcame the Austrian 6-3, 5-7, 6-1, 6-1 in three hours and one minute to take his overall tally to 18 Grand Slam singles titles, just two behind Roger Federer's record.
Nadal lifting the Coupe des Mousquetaires is a sight we've seen a lot of over the years:
The match was Nadal's 95th at Roland-Garros, and he has won a staggering 93 of those.
When Thiem took the second set, it was only the 27th set Nadal has dropped in that time, which serves to further remind us of his remarkable dominance at the French Open.
His 12th title win also saw him surpass Margaret Court's record of 11 singles titles at a single tournament, which she achieved at the Australian Open.
Thiem provided some hope that the contest would at least be competitive when he drew first blood in the opening set, with a break in the fifth game for a 3-2 lead. Nadal quickly rattled off four games in a row, however.
An unexpected mistake from Nadal proved decisive in a tight second set, which had followed serve until the No. 2 seed, serving to force a tiebreaker, hit a backhand long to put Thiem level at one set apiece.
The No. 4 seed—who was playing for the fourth consecutive day because of interruptions to the schedule caused by the weather—seemed to have little left in the tank, though, as he took just one game apiece in the final two sets.
As tennis writer Steve Tignor demonstrated, it was still an improvement from Thiem, who lost in straight sets to Nadal in last year's final:
Per the tournament's official website, Nadal finished the match having made 38 winners and 31 unforced errors. Thiem had the reverse—31 winners to 38 unforced errors.
The pair will soon gear up for Wimbledon, which begins on July 1.
Nadal, 33, will hope to add to his two titles at the All England Club, where he has not won the tournament since 2010.
As for Thiem, he has only made it past the second round at Wimbledon once in his five appearances there, so it would be a remarkable showing for him to get anywhere near the final.