Rafael Nadal believes tennis’s golden generation of himself, Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray is ending and that vanquished French Open opponent Dominic Thiem will be at the vanguard of the new era.
Nadal, the eight-time Roland Garros champion and current world number one, saw off the highly-rated 20-year-old Thiem 6-2, 6-2, 6-3 to make the third round on Thursday.
But the Spaniard saw enough to confidently predict the Austrian is a superstar-in-waiting.
“Our generation is on the way out. We have all been here for a long while. It’s normal. A generation is walking away and others will replace us. It will not come overnight, but it will come,” said Nadal who turns 28 on June 3.
Federer is 32, Djokovic and Murray are both 27 while world number three Stan Wawrinka, the Australian Open champion, is 29.
Milos Raonic, 23, and 24-year-old Kei Nishikori are already inside the top 10 while Thiem is already at a career high 57.
“Thiem has huge potential and he could be one of the ones who’s going to replace us. His tennis style is really good. What he could work on is his footwork and how he moves on the court,” said Nadal.
“But apart from that, I think his speed is really good, and also the way he changes directions, he serves well. I think he has a bright future ahead of him.
“The normal thing is Dominic will be there in a short period of time, and he will have his chances to become a top star and fight for these tournaments.”
Nadal insists that Thiem, who builds his stamina and strength with outdoor endurance work which often involves carrying tree trunks, already possesses the weapons which took him longer to develop.
“He already has a very good serve. I didn’t have that serve at the age of 17. I didn’t have the backhand, I didn’t have that power,” said Nadal of his early years on the tour.
Thiem, however, believes he still has work to do if he is to match the heights of Nadal who has captured 13 majors and won his first Grand Slam title at the French Open as a 19-year-old in 2005.
“I played okay. I did a lot of rookie mistakes, but against a player like him you always want to keep the points short,” said the Austrian.
“He doesn’t give you anything. I was serving 213km/h, 215, even on the line, and he brings the returns back. I think he made two mistakes on second serve, so you have to play every rally.”
