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Alexander Zverev vs Dominic Thiem: 2018 French Open Quarterfinal #1 Preview

By Keshav Gopalan

MADRID, SPAIN - MAY 13: Alexander Zverev of Germany shakes hands at the net after his straight sets victory against Dominic Thiem of Austria in the mens final during day nine of the Mutua Madrid Open tennis tournament at the Caja Magica on May 13, 2018 in Madrid, Spain. (Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)
MADRID, SPAIN - MAY 13: Alexander Zverev of Germany shakes hands at the net after his straight sets victory against Dominic Thiem of Austria in the mens final during day nine of the Mutua Madrid Open tennis tournament at the Caja Magica on May 13, 2018 in Madrid, Spain. (Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images) /
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Alexander Zverev and Dominic Thiem battled past their fourth-round opponents to book a quarterfinal clash in the French Open, meeting for the second time in the gravel of Roland Garros, having previously met in the third round in 2016.

While Dominic Thiem needed four sets to reach the quarters, Zverev came back from 2 sets to 1 down for the third consecutive time to reach his first grand slam quarterfinal, an event that has been a long time coming.

With a head to head that is 4-2 in Thiem’s favour but a straight-sets victory in clay in favour of Zverev just a month ago, who will win their 7th encounter?

Inconsistent form

While this applies to both Thiem and Zverev, Zverev has been very inconsistent throughout the tournament. After the fantastic clay season he had before the French Open, most people expected Zverev’s forehand woes to be a thing of the past. That has definitely not been the case this week as he’s struggled massively on all wings. And by all wings we mean forehand, backhand, serve, volleying, smash, footwork, movement etc. Matches he’d usually win in straight sets end up going to the decider, and if Zverev doesn’t up the ante, he’s in for some big trouble.

Thiem, on the other hand, looked underwhelming in his second and third round encounters against newcomer and stalwart Stefanos Tstitsipas and Italian Matteo Berrettini, respectively. However, his match against Kei Nishikori showed how good he can get when he’s playing well, especially in the second set where he bageled Nishikori, who won just 9 points throughout the set.

Mental Strength?

Zverev has struggled against top 50 players in slams since the inception of his career, but with two (hard fought) victories in this tournament alone will do much to boost his confidence. However, he is facing a fantastic clay court player ranked within the top 10. Not only that, Zverev has now played 3 consecutive 5 set matches and looked exhausted in his match against Karen Khachanov today. It could just be that he’ll be too tired to execute his strategy while playing Thiem.

It’ll be important for Zverev to beat Thiem within 4 sets to conserve energy as he moves on to the later rounds. This is because as he moves on to later stages of the slam for the first time, the jitters of the big stage will creep in. In that case, it’ll be vital for him to be physically sound if he finds his mental strength compromised due to nerves.

As for Thiem, the big stage jitters will be minimal, as he has reached the semifinals of a slam twice. His physical strength won’t be as compromised and he will be fresher off the blocks against Zverev.

Even otherwise, Thiem leads the head to head for a good reason, and its because he’s the more experienced player. This will play a key role in their match on Tuesday.

Verdict

Thiem in 4 sets.

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