US Open 2018: How to defuse a missile named Dominic Thiem, in vintage Rafael Nadal style
What makes you gasp?
A show of insane daredevilry? A feat of supernatural strength? A moment of divine inspiration?
Yesterday, the crowd at Arthur Ashe couldn't stop gasping. Almost every crushing backhand that Dominic Thiem struck was met with an exhalation of disbelief; how could he be generating so much pace with that single-hander? How could he be inflicting so much violence on that poor fuzzy yellow ball, shot after shot after shot?
But what didn't elicit as many gasps, even though it probably should have, was the way Rafael Nadal kept getting those ferocious Thiem groundstrokes back in play. Thiem threw everything at him - the mildest of which was the kitchen sink - and yet Nadal stood firm, refusing to go away.
Nothing could dislodge Nadal on this day. Not the humiliation of a first set bagel, not Thiem's seemingly limitless power, not even the stifling humidity in the New York air. This, like so many other Nadal classics we've seen over the years, was his way of saying, "You're good, but you're not getting past me on this day. Not today."
There will be days in the future when Thiem does get the job done though - that much was confirmed yesterday. For a while now I have felt that he will be the first from the new-ish generation (he is too old to be called 'NextGen' now) to win a Slam, and this match has reaffirmed that belief.
He doesn't stand 50 feet behind the baseline on every shot any longer; he now takes the ball a lot earlier, especially on the backhand. And while his game will always be more likely to succeed on clay than on other surfaces, he has given us the first signs that he is willing to make the necessary adjustments that could make him a more all-round player.
But it's not just the improved game that was a revelation yesterday; it was also his ability to put disappointments behind him and hit the reset button over and over again. He should have won the third set comfortably, but when he didn't - the game at 5-4 where he got broken was a certified choke - he didn't panic. Instead, he just turned around and resumed his quest to burn holes in the court with his rocket groundstrokes.
The word 'relentless' doesn't do justice to the way Thiem kept going at it. I've often said that the Austrian is the best player to watch from courtside, because the way he throws himself into every single shot makes for an amazing spectacle. But I didn't think it was possible even for a beast like him to maintain that intensity for the better part of five hours.
Well, now I know.
Thiem's feet go off the ground on nearly every shot; he seems to be flying while hitting routine rally groundstrokes. He even takes huge cuts for half-volleys, which looks incredible and ridiculous at the same time.
By the end of the fifth set, the crowd were going bonkers. As Thiem saved three break points while serving at 5-5, Arthur Ashe arena sounded like a balanced cacophony; fans of both Nadal and Thiem were making all the noise they could to spur their man on.
And while all of this - the eye-popping play from Thiem, the din from the crowd, the increasingly ominous ticking of the clock - was going on, Nadal remained rock-steady. It wasn't a perfect performance from the Spaniard, but with your opponent playing like a madman, you simply cannot be perfect. When you are staring down a series of missiles that seem unlikely to ever stop crashing into you, all you can do is hold your ground and hope for the best.
And that's exactly what Nadal did. He was the calm amid the storm, the method amid the madness. He never let Thiem's aggression get to him, and instead used every opportunity that came his way to steal a point and grab a game.
The serve wasn't at its best, but the groundstrokes were. He kept getting pushed back by the force of Thiem's shots, but whenever he had the chance to step in and cut off the angle, he did that. He also threw in quite a few surprise serve-and-volley plays, which were just enough to keep the Austrian guessing.
At the end of the day though, the match wasn't just about serves and returns and forehands and backhands. It was, instead, a lesson in how to keep your head while everyone around you is losing theirs.
Nadal had done this several times in his storied career before, of course. But he had never done it in the face of such an immense force of nature at the other side of the net. And he certainly hadn't played such a high-intensity match for this long, in front of a crowd as raucous as the one at Ashe.
That he still emerged as the winner, at the age of 32, after getting bagelled in the first set, should be considered a modern miracle. It wasn't something that was supposed to happen considering how ferociously Thiem competed, but Nadal has made it a habit of doing things that aren't supposed to happen.
This night had a bit of everything - shot-making brilliance from Thiem, pandemonium in the stands, and some tremendous courage from Nadal. When we look back at it in the future, we might even let out a gasp.