12th French Open title for Rafael Nadal

After the young Austrian Dominic Thiem, the current No. 4 in world tennis, beat Novak Djokovic in the semifinals a day earlier with a determined performance, one knew that the final of the French Open would be exciting and contested. But unlike in the semifinals, clay-court king Rafael Nadal awaits Thiem, who was considered the favorite. The two had already played each other in the final a year ago, when Nadal won. So a revenge by Thiem was on the cards. And as in the semi-final, Thiem impressed with fabulous returns, incredibly strong shots and a great fighting spirit. Even if Nadal was once again in a different category than Djokovic in the semi-final, Nadal had to fight mightily, Dominic Thiem had no desire, it seemed, to go home without a trophy. Accordingly, the first two sets were tight and hard-fought. Nadal had to make an extreme effort to win the first set and lost the second set after an exhausting rally.

After Thiem managed to win the second set, one had to fear for Nadal that he could usurp the throne. In particular, Thiem's determination pointed to a surprise. Rafael Nadal "fled" to the catacombs after the end of the second set to put on a new dress, new shoes and to recover mentally. This superficial change was probably also intended to bring about a change in his game. This has something of self-hypnosis about it. But it seemed to work, because after Nadal's return from the catacombs, he seemed like a changed man. Suddenly, he was serving close to or even at zero and broke Thiem almost effortlessly twice before taking the set by a crushing 6:1. What had happened? A changed Nadal or did Thiem now have to pay tribute to the physically demanding semi-final, which had stretched over two days? One can only speculate. Thiem knew how to score again and again with impressive passing shots, but he had no chance to win the match and also lost the fourth set clearly 6:1. In the end, the Spaniard deservedly stood on the podium with the trophy to lift it high, but Thiem had emphatically proven that he is a promise for the future. Already one can be excited about the French Open 2020, Thiem must be on the bill. But Nadal is making history, he is the only tennis player who has managed to win the tournament 12 times with today's victory.