What’s up with this?
One of the ATP Tour’s most macho individuals takes only one tennis ball for each serve, first second or third and beyond. That takes us back to a time when most of the women on the WTA Tour accepted only one tennis ball at a time.
Most of the women, it appears, now take two balls before serving.
Macho Man Dominic Thiem does take two balls, at least initially, but then returns the second ball to the ball boy or girl. If Thiem hits a second serve, the ball person simply delivers another ball to him.
The only exception appears to be if Thiem’s opponent, Alexander Zverev in this case in the Australian Open semifinals, taps or hits the ball back to him in case the first serve is a fault. Thiem might catch the ball hit by his opponent, and the ball person gets a break. In this scenario, Thiem rather quickly is ready to serve the second serve.
WHAT’S THE DEAL WITH ALL OF THOSE BALLS?
What about all of the ball selection process by Rafa Nadal and others? Maybe the balls really are all pretty much alike in liveness. So, what’s the deal with all of those balls?
Of course, in Nadal’s case it’s just part of his routine. And I really don’t mind it, especially when you consider Rafa is my favorite player to the extent that my little black Dachshund’s name is Rafa.
Thiem seems to wear shorts that fit tighter in the leg area, so it might be a little more difficult to put a ball in his pocket and probably even tougher to get a ball out quickly.
At least, Thiem’s process probably takes away the possibility of the ball falling out of his pocket during the point and possibly costing him the point.
THIEM MAY HAVE EDGE AGAINST NOVAK
Thiem, of course, is a finalist at the Australian Open. And he may be the only man on the planet, who has a legitimate shot to shoot down’s Novak Djokovic’s plan to celebrate a 17th Grand Slam title.
With any kind of luck in Melbourne, London and New York City, Djokovic could move close to Roger Federer’s 20 Grand Slam titles and Nadal’s 19. Federer and Nadal can only watch this time.
But there’s that Macho Man Thiem to worry Novak. Although Novak holds 6-4 edge in head-to-head meetings, Thiem has won four of the last six meetings and has beaten Djokovic in their last two head-to-heads.
DOMINIC HAS THE GAME TO OUT-HIT DJOKOVIC
As Thiem demonstrated in his four-set victory over Nadal in the quarterfinals, he has the power to knock anyone off the court but yet the quickness and mobility to play Djokovic’s game of sometimes just keeping the ball in play with side-to-side rallies from the baseline. That’s always been Djokovic’s secret against Nadal while making life so difficult for Nadal in their confrontations.
But Thiem can handle everything Novak throws his way. And, yes, Dominic is a bigger hitter than Novak.
In this particular final, it’s all about whether Thiem keeps his head and avoids letdowns as he did on a few occasions in his four-set win over Zverev on Friday night.
It may boil down to just what type of physical condition Thiem is in after his difficult matches against Nadal and Zverev.
The fact Djokovic has all of those Grand Slam titles is in his favor. The Serbian should be much looser than he was against Federer when both players sported such rigid game faces.
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James Beck is the long-time tennis columnist for the Charleston (S.C.) Post and Courier newspaper. He can be reached at Jamesbecktennis@gmail.com. See his Post and Courier columns at
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