Tennis: Nadal beats Thiem to win eleventh French Open title

Wednesday, June 13, 2018

On Sunday at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris, the "King of Clay" Rafael Nadal defeated Austrian tennis player Dominic Thiem 6–4 6–3 6–2 to claim his eleventh French Open title at the Philippe-Chatrier Court. Defending champion Nadal became the second athlete to win a particular Grand Slam event on eleven occasions, the first being Margaret Court at the Australian Open.

24-year-old Dominic Thiem was playing his first ever Grand Slam final while Nadal, who won his first French Open title in 2005 at the age of nineteen, had never lost a French Open final.

Thiem won the toss, choosing to receive the service. In the set lasting just over the one-hour mark, Thiem served two aces. The Austrian missed all four chances to win any of the net points, while Nadal won three out of four net points. Thiem committed three double faults in the set. In the second set, Thiem served three aces and committed just one double fault. Nadal won all but one net points in the second set lasting for 53 minutes. In the last set, Nadal broke Thiem's serve twice, and won all five net points in the set. The match lasted for two hours and 42 minutes.

Just like last year, Nadal did not drop a single set in the final. Last year, Nadal defeated Stan Wawrinka 6–2 6–3 6–1 in the final to win his tenth French Open. Nadal extended his record at the French Open to 86–2, losing just two matches in fourteen seasons on the French soil.

After the match, Nadal said, "It's amazing, I can't describe my feelings because it's not even a dream to win here eleven times. It's impossible to think something like this." Former French Open winner Ken Rosewall, the first player to win the French Open in the open era, presented the awards. Rosewall said, "Words can't express what we feel for Rafa's game and what he's done for the game on a worldwide basis".

With this victory, Nadal now has seventeen Grand Slam titles. Only Roger Federer has three more titles than the Spaniard. Nadal is the only athlete to win a particular Grand Slam on eleven occasions in the open era.

MEN'S SINGLES FINAL

61'

53'

48'

(1)

Rafael NADALESP

6

(7) Dominic THIEMAUT

4

3

2

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"¡La décima! Nadal again a French CHAMP10N" — Wikinews, June 13, 2017

Sources

Wikinews

Some information contained in this article was obtained from television, radio, or live webcast sources. Reporter's notes and the broadcast source details are available at the collaboration page.

Roland Garros. "Roland Garros on Twitter" — Twitter, June 10, 2018
Ravi Ubha. "Rafael Nadal beats Dominic Thiem for 11th French Open title" — CNN, June 10, 2018
"The Match" — Roland-Garros, June 10, 2018
Ian Chadband. "Eleven for Eleven" — Roland-Garros, June 10, 2018
Jonathan Jurejko. "French Open 2018: Rafael Nadal beats Dominic Thiem to win 11th title" — BBC Sport, June 10, 2018
"Unstoppable" — Roland-Garros, June 10, 2018

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