Rafael Nadal’s bid for a 12th Barcelona Open title has been ended by Dominic Thiem. The Austrian player won 6-4, 6-4 in just over two hours to set up a final against Daniil Medvedev.
It’s the fourth time in as many years and the first time Rafa has lost in the semi-finals or finals of his home tournament.
Rafa’s defeat comes just a week after he was eliminated in the semi-finals of the Monte Carlo Masters where he is also an 11-time champion.
After the match, Rafa said:
My confidence is back, today’s match is a good base to achieve my goals. Against Fognini, I played one of the worst matches in 14 years. Today I’ve been competitive and I enjoyed the match.
I was competitive until the end, but I’ve lost against a top-level player. I’ve missed being able to play more matches like this one.
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Spain’s Rafael Nadal returns the ball to Austria’s Dominic Thiem during the ATP Tour Barcelona Open semi-final tennis match in Barcelona on April 27, 2019. (Photo by Pau Barrena / AFP) (Photo credit should read PAU BARRENA/AFP/Getty Images)
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Spain’s Rafael Nadal gestures during the ATP Tour Barcelona Open semi-final tennis match against Austria’s Dominic Thiem in Barcelona on April 27, 2019. (Photo by Pau Barrena / AFP) (Photo credit should read PAU BARRENA/AFP/Getty Images)
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GRAF9055. BARCELONA, 27/04/2019.- El tenista austríaco Dominic Thiem (i) junto al español Rafael Nadal (d) durante la semifinal del Open Banc Sabadell-Trofeo Conde de Godó disputada este sábado en el Real Club de Tenis de Barcelona. Thiem pasará a la final tras vencer por 6-4, 6-4. EFE/Alejandro García
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Sources: AFP, express.co.uk
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rafa needs to get his forehand down the line shot triggering it his the ultimate shot which is hard to hot till this day and opponent has no answer ti this shot also the moment he hit that shit 2 3 time he feels more condident
also the thing to be noticed that rafa was unbreakable in AO due to his new service till the final he was serving really well in IW too but from monte carlo the new serve seem to be missing which we sa in AO 19
i am positive for rafa he needed this matches, i just thought he was a little unprepared for thiem dropshots so. Though rafa lost this match but this will only going to help him for RG preprations…also i have watching rafa from monte carlo he is not making the right position to hit the shots today he did very well but till last match he was either too early or little late in getting position to hit the shot . The thing is rafa is know for making ggod position to hit the shot…may be rafa can take help from toni nadal…thiem is good player and speciay on clay..he has power game…but still i think rafa is the ultimate champion and next time they meet rafa surely going to win…best luck rafa vamos…always with you
Gracious words from Rafa, as always! Keep going, champion! Valiant effort, always with you, win or lose.
Good luck to Thiem in the final.
Win or loose, always with you sweet Rafa 🤗❤️ – You’ll be back champ, can’t wait 😍🍀
VAMOS! 🎾💪🏼😘
Ahhh…… heartbroken! I am already going through a very tough period of my life right now. And now seeing Rafa lose makes it unbearable for me. Hope things start to get better. Always your fan Rafa. Stay strong.
Hang in there Rafan, whatever you’re going through will have an end date, just like these bad times for our Rafa. Stay strong.
Thanks a lot Mac and Lorna! Feel so close to my rafan family. Vamos
Rafan. Please take strength from Rafa’s attitude to tennis and to life. He is a fighter and will overcome his problems just as you will.
Thanks for kind words Lorna and Mac. Feel so close to my rafan family. Vamos💪
I agree with what Rafa said. You could see he gained confidence. He had against him the best second player on earth and still Rafa did a good job. I am not worried at all as I didn’t worry when he played Fognini where his problems were all mental. Over all it was a good match for Rafa. It was a shame he didn’t break after leading 0/40. VamisRafa!!!
Rafa you played very good, trying again in Madrid I know you can do it best of luck
Disappointed but not shocked. Thiem is not afraid to go toe to toe with Rafa and has proved on several occasions that he can beat Rafa at his own game. In many ways Rafa was playing himself, who he saw on the other side of the net.
A big issue for Rafa remains his service game. All too often his serve is broken early in a match, so he has to work very hard to get back on level terms. Also, many of his shots are still landing short, gifting his opponents.
Clearly a five set grand slam tournament is a different proposition, but Rafa has a lot of work to do before RG if he is to lift the trophy there again.
Congrats to Thiem. He played an awesome match. Believe it or not, I am not worried about Rafa. He played an in-form 25 year old player at the peak of his powers today. I really feel Rafa is finding his way back to winning with each match he plays. At 32, maybe it will just take a little more time. It is better to be patient with Rafa.
I hope Rafa is patient with himself. As he said before, it’s not easy to start and stop, again and again due to
injuries. But I know he will ultimately persevere and overcome all these obstacles. Still a lot left of the clay court season. Eventually Rafa will put it all together again. For me it’s Rafa’s journey that is so compelling to watch.
Vamos Rafa, always with you. Please don’t be too hard on yourself. I love watching you through all your challenges and victories. Stay healthy. It’s always a pleasure to watch you compete and stay true to yourself!
He is a human being,not. Robots.vamossssssssssss champ for the next tournament.you can do it your fans for ever Rafa 💪💪💪🎾🎾🎾😘😘😘❤️❤️❤️
Rafa shouldn’t be too disappointed in his performance in this match. The only thing wrong was the two double faults and anyway, I’m not sure that any player could have beaten Thiem today. Rafa sometimes had to hit multiple shots that would have been winners against others in order to win a point.
I was really pleased to see Rafa looking a lot more positive and keeping up the fight. I cried tears of happiness when he finally got that break point. I didn’t think he would win today, Thiem was too much too soon, all I wanted was Rafa to play with more confidence and not beat himself. I think Rafa took a big step forwards this week, let’s hope he can keep up the progress.
Diane, I loved your comments. I always want Rafa to win, but it is more important to me that he is healthy.
Rafa needs to start improving to stand any chance of winning the French Open. My fingers are crossed for Rafa with love 🇬🇧 xx
We all want Rafa to win, but he has so many ranking points to defend. Thiem played at a higher level than Rafa today. I still am not sure Rafa will play Madrid. Maybe he will now because he lost today?
Without a chance on clay and on his own court. Don’t know what to say, really tough right now.
For the life of me i dont understand why rafa keeps playing same old same old i didnt see him using the forehand down the line often and also he was just standing too far behind the baseline and because of that thiem used a lot of dropshots
I think the reason RAFA isn’t returning “forehand down the line”, -, and “standing too far behind baseline”, etc, is because he is not himself yet… Something is bothering him physically and he cannot choose those plays at that time. He is not 100% yet..
No matter to me; We’ve already witnessed countless championships and matches that had us all in AWE!! Rafael has nothing more to prove.. ; everything Nadal wins from here out is just gravy.
I’m best man at my buddy’s wedding today, but still watched the match on my phone in the church. This didn’t go very well for Rafa. #sad!
Rafa is simply not as sharp as he usually is. But it’s not time to run for the hills yet. Let’s move on to Madrid and see what happens there.
Tough loss for rafa deserve win for thiem. I can not make a definitive conclusion but things are not going so well for rafa i am not there yet to suggest that rafa is in a form crisis compare with 2015. But if you compare it with last year rafa is in terrible shape.
If he continues to play like this in Madrid and Rome then for the first time since 2015 rafa will be very funerable in Paris
This may very well become a slamless season folks.
Oh dear. Thiem played brilliantly, but … this isn’t how I was hoping the clay court season’d go 🙁 .
So nice to hear Rafa giving due credit to Thiem. Rather than being too down about the loss, Rafa looks on the positive side and appreciates that Thiem has pushed him to raise his game. “My confidence is back, today’s match is a good base to achieve my goal….” Hearing this from Rafa is encouraging, as it means that he’s in a good frame of mind and confident of his continued improvent, aiming to peak at RG ……and he will.