2017 Roland Garros – Day 13 Men’s Preview

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2017 ROLAND GARROS

Day 13 Men’s Preview

Friday 9 June

Featured matches

Semifinals

No. 1 Andy Murray (GBR) v No. 3 Stan Wawrinka (SUI)

No. 4 Rafael Nadal (ESP) v No. 6 Dominic Thiem (AUT)

A look at the semifinalists…

Player	Country	Age	Ranking	Best Roland Garros performance	Best Grand Slam performance
No. 1 Andy Murray	GBR	30	1	RU 2016	3 titles
No. 3 Stan Wawrinka	SUI	32	3	W 2015	3 titles
No. 4 Rafael Nadal	ESP	31	4	W 2005-08, 2010-14	14 titles
No. 6 Dominic Thiem	AUT	23	7	SF 2016-17	SF 2016-17 Roland Garros

On court today…

Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka are first on Court Philippe Chatrier in a repeat of last year’s semifinal. Murray won that clash in 4 sets – and victory again today would see him become just the 7th man in the Open Era to reach the finals at all 4 Grand Slam events on multiple occasions. 2015 champion Wawrinka will be looking to avenge that defeat and, at 32 years 75 days, become the oldest Roland Garros finalist since 33-year-old Niki Pilic finished runner-up here in 1973.

Nine-time Roland Garros champion Rafael Nadal takes on Dominic Thiem in the 2nd match on Chatrier in a clash between the 2 form players on clay in 2017 – both men have won 22 matches on the surface this year. Thiem, who has already defeated Nadal twice on the Spaniard’s favourite surface, is bidding to become just the 3rd man to defeat Nadal on clay on 3 or more occasions at Tour-level after Novak Djokovic and Gaston Gaudio.

None of Wawrinka, Nadal or Thiem have dropped a set in reaching the semifinals here – the first time as many as 3 men have reached the last 4 at a Grand Slam without dropping a set since the 1988 Australian Open, when Pat Cash, Ivan Lendl and Mats Wilander achieved the feat. It is the first time as many as 3 men have reached the last 4 without dropping a set at Roland Garros in the Open Era.

The average age of the 4 semifinalists here this year is 29 years 105 days. This ranks 2nd in the Open Era for highest average age of semifinalists at Roland Garros (behind 1968, when it was 33 years 224 days) and 14th in the Open Era for highest average age of semifinalists at any Grand Slam.

1 ANDY MURRAY (GBR) v NO. 3 STAN WAWRINKA (SUI)

Head-to-head: Murray leads 10-7

2005 Davis Cup (WG-PO) Clay (I) R2 Wawrinka 63 76(5) 64

2006 AMS Miami Hard (O) R128 Wawrinka 75 36 64

2008 Doha Hard (O) FR Murray 64 46 62

2008 Marseille Hard (I) R16 Murray 36 76(5) 61

2008 AMS Rome Clay (O) R32 Wawrinka 62 76(5)

2008 AMS Toronto Hard (O) R16 Murray 62 06 64

2008 US Open Hard (O) R16 Murray 61 63 63

2009 Wimbledon Grass (O) R16 Murray 26 63 63 57 63

2010 US Open Hard (O) R32 Wawrinka 67(3) 76(4) 63 63

2011 Shanghai-1000 Hard (O) R16 Murray 64 36 63

2012 London Olympic Tennis Event Grass (O) R64 Murray 63 63

2012 Tokyo Hard (O) QF Murray 62 36 62

2013 Monte Carlo-1000 Clay (O) R16 Wawrinka 61 62

2013 US Open Hard (O) QF Wawrinka 64 63 62

2015 ATP World Tour Finals Hard (I) RR Wawrinka 76(4) 64

2016 Roland Garros Clay (O) SF Murray 64 62 46 62

2016 ATP World Tour Finals Hard (I) RR Murray 64 62

An 18th career meeting between the 2 players. It is their 6th meeting at a Grand Slam and their 2nd straight Roland Garros semifinal. Murray leads their head-to-heads at Grand Slams 3-2.

Murray is facing a Top 5 opponent for just the 2nd time in 2017. His only previous meeting with a Top 5 player this year came in the final at Doha, where he fell to No. 2 Novak Djokovic in straight sets.

Murray’s victory against Wawrinka in the semifinals here last year is the only time he has defeated a Top 5 player at Roland Garros in 5 previous attempts.

With Murray and Wawrinka both aiming to reach their 2nd final here, the winner of today’s match will become the 20th man in the Open Era to reach the Roland Garros final on multiple occasions. The victor will join Michael Chang, Alex Corretja, Juan Carlos Ferrero, Jan Kodes, Rod Laver, Ilie Nastase, Ken Rosewall and Robin Soderling in joint 12th-place on the list for most appearances in the Roland Garros final in the Open Era.

The pair are 2 of the 3 Grand Slam champions to have reached the semifinals here from the 6 who started the men’s main draw. Murray is a 3-time major champion, having won the title at the 2012 US Open, and at Wimbledon in 2013 and 2016. Wawrinka also has 3 major titles, having won at the 2014 Australian Open, 2015 Roland Garros and the 2016 US Open.

Murray and Wawrinka are 2 of the 3 men aged 30 or over through to the semifinals here – equalling the Open Era record for the most 30-somethings through to the semifinals at a major. 3 men aged 30 or over also reached the semifinals at 1968 Roland Garros and at the 2017 Australian Open.

MURRAY v WAWRINKA

30 Age 32

6’3”/1.91m Height 6’0”/1.83m

1 ATP Ranking 3

45 Titles 16

3 titles Best Grand Slam Result 3 titles

184-41 Career Grand Slam Record 129-45

39-9 Roland Garros Record 37-11

651-181 Career Record 464-260

107-45 Career Record – Clay 172-82

21-7 2017 Record 25-8

9-4 2017 Record – Clay 11-3

23-9 Career Five-Set Record 25-20

9 Comebacks from 0-2 Down 6

189-110 Career Tiebreak Record 193-174

9-3 2017 Tiebreak Record 13-4

Possible final head-to-heads

	Nadal	Thiem
Murray	7-17	2-1
Wawrinka	3-15	3-1

Road to the semifinals

MURRAY	Time		Time	WAWRINKA
d. Andrey Kuznetsov 64 46 62 60 d. Martin Klizan 67(3) 62 62 76(3)	2:32 3:34	1st round 2nd round	1:57 2:34	d. (Q) Jozef Kovalik 62 76(6) 63 d. Alexandr Dolgopolov 64 76(5) 75
d. No. 29 Juan Martin Del Potro 76(8) 75 60	2:53	3rd round	1:52	d. No. 28 Fabio Fognini 76(2) 60 62
d. Karen Khachanov 63 64 64	2:04	Round of 16	2:43	d. No. 15 Gael Monfils 75 76(7) 62
d. No. 8 Kei Nishikori 26 61 76(0) 61	2:39	Quarterfinals	1:40	d. No. 7 Marin Cilic 63 63 61
total time on court	13:42	(IBM time)	10:46	total time on court

MURRAY is attempting to become the 2nd British man in history to reach multiple Roland Garros finals after Fred Perry. Only 3 British men have reached the final here since the event became international in 1925.

British men in the final of the French Championships (since 1925)

Year	Player	Final result
1935	Fred Perry	Defeated Gottfried von Cramm 63 36 61 63
1936	Fred Perry	Lost Gottfried von Cramm 60 26 62 26 60
1937	Bunny Austin	Lost to Henner Henkel 61 64 63
2017	Andy Murray	Lost to Novak Djokovic 36 61 62 64

Murray is bidding to reach his 12th Grand Slam final and extend his lead over Perry for the most appearances in a Grand Slam final by a British man (since the Challenge Round was abolished at Wimbledon in 1922).

Player	Appearances in Grand Slam finals
Andy Murray	11 – US Open 2008, 2012; Australian Open 2010-11, 2013, 2015-16; Wimbledon 2012-13, 2016; Roland Garros 2016
Fred Perry	10 – US Championships 1933-34, 1936; Australian Championships 1934-35; French Championships 1935-36; Wimbledon 1934-36

Murray is looking to reach his 12th Grand Slam final and take sole ownership of 9th place on the Open Era list for most Grand Slam finals reached in the Open Era ahead of Stefan Edberg, John McEnroe and Mats Wilander. [NB Rafael Nadal is looking to take sole ownership of 2nd place on the list today]

Grand Slam finals reached (Open Era)

Player	No. of GS finals
Roger Federer	28
*Rafael Nadal*	*22??*
Novak Djokovic	21
Ivan Lendl	19
Pete Sampras	18
Bjorn Borg	16
Andre Agassi Jimmy Connors	15 15
*Andy Murray??*	*12??*
Stefan Edberg John McEnroe Mats Wilander	11 11 11

Active players in bold

Murray is bidding to become the 7th man in the Open Era to record multiple appearances in the finals at all 4 Grand Slam events. (See table overleaf)

Player	Appearances in Grand Slam finals (Open Era)
Andre Agassi	6 US Open finals, 4 Australian Open finals, 3 Roland Garros finals, 2 Wimbledon finals
Novak Djokovic	7 US Open finals, 6 Australian Open finals, 4 Roland Garros finals, 4 Wimbledon finals
Roger Federer	10 Wimbledon finals, 7 US Open finals, 6 Australian Open finals, 5 Roland Garros finals
Ivan Lendl	8 US Open finals, 5 Roland Garros finals, 4 Australian Open finals, 2 Wimbledon finals
Rafael Nadal	9 Roland Garros finals, 5 Wimbledon finals, 4 Australian Open finals, 3 US Open finals
Ken Rosewall*	2 Australian Open finals, 2 Roland Garros finals, 2 Wimbledon finals, 2 US Open finals
Andy Murray??	5 Australian Open finals, 3 Wimbledon finals, 2 US Open finals, 2 Roland Garros finals??

* Also reached 8 Slam finals pre-Open Era

Murray has a 1-3 win-loss record in semifinals here, compared with 2-1 at the US Open, 3-4 at Wimbledon and 5-1 at the Australian Open.

Murray’s Grand Slam semifinal appearances

Grand Slam	Opponent	Result
2008 US Open	Rafael Nadal	d. 62 76(5) 46 64
2009 Wimbledon	Andy Roddick	l. 64 46 76(7) 76(5)
2010 Australian Open	Marin Cilic	d. 36 64 64 62
2010 Wimbledon	Rafael Nadal	l. 64 76(6) 64
2011 Australian Open	David Ferrer	d. 46 76(2) 61 76(2)
2011 Roland Garros	Rafael Nadal	l. 64 75 64
2011 Wimbledon	Rafael Nadal	l. 57 62 62 64
2011 US Open	Rafael Nadal	l. 64 62 36 62
2012 Australian Open	Novak Djokovic	l. 63 36 67(4) 61 75
2012 Wimbledon	Jo-Wilfried Tsonga	d. 63 64 36 75
2012 US Open	Tomas Berdych	d. 57 62 61 76(7)
2013 Australian Open	Roger Federer	d. 64 67(5) 63 67(2) 62
2013 Wimbledon	Jerzy Janowicz	d. 67(2) 64 64 63
2014 Roland Garros	Rafael Nadal	l. 63 62 61
2015 Australian Open	Tomas Berdych	d. 67(6) 60 63 75
2015 Roland Garros	Novak Djokovic	l. 63 63 57 57 61
2015 Wimbledon	Roger Federer	l. 75 75 64
2016 Australian Open	Milos Raonic	d. 46 75 67(4) 64 62
2016 Roland Garros	Stan Wawrinka	d. 64 62 46 62
2016 Wimbledon	Tomas Berdych	d. 63 63 63
*2017 Roland Garros*	*Stan Wawrinka*	??

Murray has won just one of his last 8 meetings with Top 5 opposition at the Grand Slams. His only victory against a Top 5 player at a major since he defeated No. 1 Novak Djokovic to win the title at 2013 Wimbledon came against today’s opponent in the semifinals here last year.

Murray is bidding to record a 6th clay court victory over a Top 5 player on his 19th attempt. This is his first encounter with a Top 5 opponent on clay this season.

Roland Garros is Murray’s least successful Grand Slam in terms of match-wins and finals reached.

Grand Slam	Titles won	Win-loss record	Finals reached
Australian Open	0	48-12	5
Roland Garros	0	39-9	*2??*
Wimbledon	2	53-9	3
US Open	1	44-11	2

By reaching the semifinals here for the 5th time, Murray has equalled Andre Agassi and his coach Ivan Lendl in joint-6th place on the list for most Roland Garros semifinal appearances in the Open Era. Rafael Nadal (10 semifinals), Djokovic (8), Roger Federer (7), Bjorn Borg (6) and Wilander (6) are the only men to have reached the last 4 more often in the Open Era.

By reaching his 4th consecutive Roland Garros semifinal, Murray has moved into joint-4th place on the list for most consecutive Roland Garros semifinal appearances in the Open Era. Only Djokovic (6 – 2011-16), Federer (5 – 2005-09) and Nadal (5 – 2010-14) have reached more consecutive semifinals here. Murray also holds the longest active streak of semifinal appearances at Roland Garros.

By reaching his 21st Grand Slam semifinal, Murray has closed the gap on Pete Sampras (23 semifinals) in 7th place on the Open Era list for most Grand Slam semifinals reached. Federer (41 semifinals), Djokovic (31) and Nadal (25) are the only active players to reach the last 4 at a Grand Slam on more occasions than Murray.

Murray has reached his 21st Grand Slam semifinal and extended his record for the most Grand Slam semifinal appearances by a British man ahead of Perry (13 semifinals). Murray has reached the semifinals at the Australian Open 6 times, Roland Garros 5 times, Wimbledon 7 times and the US Open 3 times.

Murray is bidding to extend his record for the most Roland Garros match-wins by a British man. He has a 39-9 win-loss record here, ahead of Perry (28-5), Bunny Austin (23-6), Patrick Hughes (21-6), Billy Knight (19-10) and Bobby Wilson (19-9).

Murray is the only British player – man or woman – to have reached 5 semifinals at Roland Garros. Murray is one of just 4 British players along with Perry (1935-36), Austin (1935, 1937) and Ann Jones (1968-69) to reach multiple semifinals here.

By defeating Karen Khachanov in the round of 16 here, Murray recorded his 650th Tour-level match-win. He was the 15th man to reach the 650 match-wins milestone.

Last year here Murray recorded his best Roland Garros performance by reaching the final for the first time, falling to Djokovic in 4 sets. He became the 10th man in the Open Era to reach the final at all 4 Grand Slam events.

Murray is a 3-time Grand Slam champion. He won the 2012 US Open title (d. Djokovic) and became the first British man to win the Wimbledon singles title in 77 years in 2013 (d. Djokovic) before winning the title again in 2016 (d. Milos Raonic). He is one of 3 Grand Slam champions to reach the semifinals here from the 6 that started in the men’s main draw.

Murray is bidding to become just the 2nd British man to win Roland Garros after Perry, who won the title here in 1935.

Murray is bidding to add to his US Open and 2 Wimbledon titles and become the 17th man in the Open Era to win at least 3 of the 4 Grand Slam titles (see Preview page 4).

Murray warmed up for Roland Garros by reaching the semifinals at Barcelona (l. Dominic Thiem) and the 3rd round at both Monte Carlo-1000 (l. Albert Ramos-Vinolas) and Madrid-1000 (l. Borna Coric). He lost to Fabio Fognini in the 2nd round at Rome-1000 (after receiving a 1st round bye).

Also in 2017, Murray won his 45th Tour-level title at Dubai (d. Verdasco). He finished runner-up at Doha
(l. Djokovic) but fell in the round of 16 at the Australian Open, where world No. 50 Mischa Zverev became the lowest-ranked player to defeat Murray at a major since No. 51 Juan Ignacio Chela at the 2006 Australian Open.

Murray is seeded No. 1 at a Grand Slam for the 2nd time, having also been seeded No. 1 at this year’s Australian Open. He is the first British man to be seeded No. 1 at Roland Garros since Austin in 1937.

Murray is coached by Ivan Lendl, who won Roland Garros in 1984, 1986 and 1987, and former world No. 121 Jamie Delgado.

WAWRINKA is bidding to reach his 4th Grand Slam final and his 2nd at Roland Garros.

Aged 32 years 75 days, Wawrinka is looking to become the oldest man to reach the final at Roland Garros since Niki Pilic finished runner-up here aged 33 years 280 days in 1973. Wawrinka is the oldest man to reach the semifinals at Roland Garros since Jimmy Connors reached the last 4 here aged 32 years 280 days in 1985.

Wawrinka is bidding to reach his 4th Grand Slam final and join Michael Chang, Lleyton Hewitt, Goran Ivanisevic, Pat Rafter and Marat Safin in joint-23rd place on the list for most Grand Slam finals reached in the Open Era.

Wawrinka is one of 3 Swiss players – men or women – to have reached a Grand Slam final in history alongside Roger Federer (28 Grand Slam finals) and Martina Hingis (12). [NB. Written prior to Timea Bacsinszky’s semifinal match with Jelena Ostapenko on Thursday]

Wawrinka is bidding to record his 10th straight win and record a new career-best Tour-level winning streak on clay, having defended his title at Geneva prior to coming here. By reaching the semifinals here, he equalled his career-best Tour-level winning streak on clay of 9 straight wins, which he has achieved on 3 other occasions – in winning the title at 2013 Oeiras through to the final at 2013 Madrid-1000, in winning the title at 2015 Roland Garros through to the quarterfinals at 2016 Monte Carlo-1000, and in winning the title at 2016 Geneva through to the semifinals at 2016 Roland Garros.

Wawrinka is bidding to defeat a world No. 1 for the 4th time in his career. All 3 of his wins against players ranked No. 1 have come in Grand Slam finals – against Rafael Nadal in the 2014 Australian Open final and against Novak Djokovic in both the 2015 Roland Garros and 2016 US Open finals. He has a 3-20 win-loss record against players ranked No. 1 overall.

Wawrinka has reached the semifinals at 4 of the last 5 Grand Slams. He is through to his 9th Grand Slam semifinal overall. He has a 1-1 win-loss record in semifinals here, compared with 1-2 at both the Australian Open and the US Open. He has never reached a semifinal at Wimbledon.

Wawrinka’s Grand Slam semifinal appearances

Grand Slam	Opponent	Result
2013 US Open	Novak Djokovic	l. 26 76(4) 36 63 64
2014 Australian Open	Tomas Berdych	d. 63 67(1) 76(3) 76(4)
2015 Australian Open	Novak Djokovic	l. 76(1) 36 64 46 60
2015 Roland Garros	Jo-Wilfried Tsonga	d. 63 67(1) 76(3) 64
2015 US Open	Roger Federer	l. 64 63 61
2016 Roland Garros	Andy Murray	l. 64 62 46 62
2016 US Open	Kei Nishikori	d. 46 75 64 62
2017 Australian Open	Roger Federer	l. 75 63 16 46 63
*2017 Roland Garros*	*v Andy Murray*	??

Wawrinka has dropped just 54 games in reaching the semifinals here – the joint-fewest games he has dropped in reaching the semifinals at a Grand Slam. He also dropped 54 games in reaching the semifinals at 2015 Roland Garros.

By reaching the semifinals here, Wawrinka has reached 3 consecutive Grand Slam semifinals for the first time in his career. He is also through to his 3rd straight Roland Garros semifinal – the first time he has reached 3 consecutive semifinals at a single Grand Slam event.

By reaching his 9th Grand Slam semifinal, Wawrinka has taken sole ownership of 20th place on the list for most Grand Slam semifinals reached in the Open Era ahead of Chang, Vitas Gerulaitis, Hewitt and Tony Roche, who all reached 8 Grand Slam semifinals.

Wawrinka is looking to become the 3rd man in the Open Era to win 3 or more Grand Slam titles after turning 30. Rod Laver and Ken Rosewall are the only men to have won 3 or more Grand Slam titles after turning 30 [see Preview page 8].

Roland Garros is Wawrinka’s 2nd most successful Grand Slam event in terms of matches won. If he wins today, it will become his joint-most successful Grand Slam in terms of matches won along with the US Open.

Grand Slam	Titles won	Win-loss record	Finals reached
Australian Open	1	36-11	1
Roland Garros	1	37-11	1
Wimbledon	0	18-12	0
US Open	1	38-11	1

Wawrinka’s best Roland Garros performance is winning the title in 2015, defeating Djokovic 46 64 63 64 in the final. He was the first man to win Roland Garros a year after losing in the 1st round since 2002 champion Albert Costa, who had lost in the 1st round in Paris in 2001. At 30 years 71 days was the oldest male champion since Andres Gomez in 1990.

Wawrinka has won 3 Grand Slam titles at 3 different majors. He also won the 2014 Australian Open
(d. Nadal) and the 2016 US Open (d. Djokovic). At the Australian Open, he was the first player to defeat the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds en route to a Grand Slam title since Sergi Bruguera won 1993 Roland Garros. At the US Open, aged 31 years 167 days, he became the oldest US Open champion since Rosewall in 1970.

On his title defence here last year, Wawrinka lost to today’s opponent in 4 sets in the semifinals.

Wawrinka warmed up for Roland Garros by defending his title at Geneva (d. Mischa Zverev) after 3rd round finishes at Monte Carlo-1000 (l. Pablo Cuevas) and Rome-1000 (l. John Isner). He lost his opening match at Madrid-1000 (l. Benoit Paire). 7 of his 16 career titles have come on clay.

Also in 2017 Wawrinka reached his 4th Masters-1000 final at Indian Wells, falling to Federer, the semifinals at both the Australian Open (l. Federer) and Brisbane (l. Kei Nishikori), and the round of 16 at Miami-1000
(l. Alexander Zverev).

Wawrinka has played in every major since making his Grand Slam debut at 2005 Roland Garros. This is his 13th straight Roland Garros appearance and his 49th consecutive Grand Slam appearance, which puts him in 10th place on the list for the most consecutive appearances at the majors in history.

Wawrinka is coached by 2000 Roland Garros finalist Magnus Norman.

4 RAFAEL NADAL (ESP) v NO. 6 DOMINIC THIEM (AUT)

Head-to-head: Nadal leads 4-2

2014 Roland Garros Clay (O) R64 Nadal 62 62 63

2016 Buenos Aires Clay (O) SF Thiem 64 46 76(4)

2016 Monte Carlo-1000 Clay (O) R16 Nadal 75 63

2017 Barcelona Clay (O) FR Nadal 64 61

2017 Madrid-1000 Clay (O) FR Nadal 76(8) 64

2017 Rome-1000 Clay (O) QF Thiem 64 63

A 7th meeting between the 2 players and their 2nd here – and at a Grand Slam. All of their previous meetings have been on clay.

This is the 4th consecutive tournament meeting for Nadal and Thiem, who have met in the last 3 tournaments they have contested at Barcelona, Madrid-1000 and Rome-1000.

Thiem is bidding to become the 3rd man to defeat Nadal on clay on 3 or more occasions at Tour-level after Novak Djokovic (7 clay court wins against Nadal) and Gaston Gaudio (3). He is one of just 7 men to have recorded multiple clay court match-wins against Nadal along with Djokovic, Gaudio, Roger Federer (2), David Ferrer (2), Fabio Fognini (2) and Andy Murray (2).

In 5 of the previous 6 meetings between Nadal and Thiem, the winner of their match has gone on to win the title. That pattern ended in their most recent encounter at 2017 Rome-1000, when Thiem defeated Nadal before falling to Djokovic in the semifinals.

The winner of today’s match will take sole occupancy of 1st place on the list for the most clay court match-wins in 2017. Nadal and Thiem are currently joint top of the list with 22 clay-court match-wins each this year.

2017 Tour-level clay-court match-wins

Rafael Nadal Dominic Thiem	22-1 22-4
Albert Ramos-Vinolas	21-11
Pablo Carreno Busta	20-8
Alexander Zverev	16-4

Nadal and Thiem occupy the Top 2 positions for the most Tour-level match-wins in 2017.

2017 Tour-level match-wins

Rafael Nadal	41-6
Dominic Thiem	34-12
David Goffin	31-12
Pablo Carreno Busta	27-14
Alexander Zverev	27-10

NADAL v THIEM

31* Age 23

6’1”/1.85m Height 6’1”/1.85m

4 ATP Ranking 7

72 Titles 8

14 titles Best Grand Slam Result SF 2016, 2017 Roland Garros

214-32 Career Grand Slam Record 28-13

77-2 Roland Garros Record 12-3

847-180 Career Record 156-94

387-35 Career Record – Clay 81-29

41-6 2017 Record 34-12

22-1 2017 Record – Clay 22-4

19-9 Career Five-Set Record 3-2

3 Comebacks from 0-2 Down 1

208-134 Career Tiebreak Record 60-56

8-3 2017 Tiebreak Record 9-7

*Turned 31 on 3 June

Possible final head-to-heads

	Murray	Wawrinka
Nadal	17-7	15-3
Thiem	1-2	1-3

Road to the Semifinals

NADAL	Time		Time	THIEM
d. Benoit Paire 61 64 61 d. Robin Haase 61 64 63	1:52 1:49	1st round 2nd round	1:20 2:23	d. Bernard Tomic 64 60 62 d. (Q) Simone Bolelli 75 61 63
d. Nikoloz Basilashvili 60 61 60	1:31	3rd round	2:03	d. No. 25 Steve Johnson 61 76(4) 63
d. No. 17 Roberto Bautista Agut 61 62 62 d. No. 20 Pablo Carreno Busta 62 2-0 ret. (left abdominal muscle)	1:51 0:51	Round of 16 Quarterfinals	1:39 2:15	d. Horacio Zeballos 61 63 61 d. No. 2 Novak Djokovic 76(5) 63 60

total time on court	7:54	(IBM time)	9:40	total time on court

9-time champion NADAL is bidding to become the 3rd man in history to make 10 appearances in the final at one Grand Slam event after Bill Tilden (10 US Open finals) and Roger Federer (10 Wimbledon finals).

Nadal is looking to reach his 22nd Grand Slam final and take sole ownership of 2nd place on the all-time list for most Grand Slam finals reached in the Open Era ahead of Novak Djokovic.

Grand Slam finals reached (all-time)

Player	No. of GS finals
Roger Federer	28
*Rafael Nadal*	*22??*
Novak Djokovic	21
Ivan Lendl	19
Pete Sampras	18
Rod Laver	17

Active players in bold

Nadal is bidding to reach his 10th Roland Garros final and extend his record for the most final appearances here ahead of 2nd-placed Bjorn Borg (6 Roland Garros final appearances).

Nadal has dropped just 22 games in reaching the semifinals here – the fewest games dropped into a Grand Slam semifinal in the Open Era where five best-of-5 set matches have been played. Borg holds the Open Era record for the fewest games dropped into a Grand Slam final (where the best-of-5 format has been played throughout the tournament) – dropping just 27 games in reaching the final at 1978 Roland Garros.

Fewest games dropped in reaching a Grand Slam final*

Bjorn Borg	27 – 1978 Roland Garros
Bjorn Borg	31 – 1980 Roland Garros
Rafael Nadal	35 – 2012 Roland Garros

(*In the current 128-draw format where all-matches played were best-of-5-sets)

[NB Guillermo Vilas dropped 26 games in reaching the final at the 1977 US Open, but the opening 4 rounds were best-of-3 sets]

[Andres Gimeno dropped 33 games in reaching the 1969 Australian Open final, but the format was a 64-draw]

Nadal has never lost in the semifinals here. He has won all 9 of the semifinals he has contested at Roland Garros en route to the titles in 2005-08 and 2010-2014.

Nadal has a 21-3 win-loss record in Grand Slam semifinals. The last time he lost a semifinal at one of the majors was when he suffered his worst Grand Slam defeat (in terms of games won), losing 62 62 62 to Juan Martin del Potro at the 2009 US Open.

By reaching the semifinals here, Nadal is guaranteed to climb to at least No. 3 in the world – his highest ranking since March 2015 – when the ATP rankings are updated on Monday 12 June. He will rise to No. 2 – his highest ranking since October 2014 – unless Stan Wawrinka outperforms him here.

Nadal is the leading performer in Roland Garros history. He has a 77-2 win-loss record at Roland Garros, ahead of Federer (65-16), Novak Djokovic (59-12) and Guillermo Vilas (58-17).
Roland Garros is Nadal’s most successful Grand Slam in terms of match-wins, titles won and finals reached.

Grand Slam	Titles won	Win-loss record	Finals reached
Australian Open	1	51-11	4
Roland Garros	9	77-2	*10??*
Wimbledon	2	40-9	5
US Open	2	46-10	3

Nadal is bidding to become the first player in the Open Era – and only the 2nd player in history – to win 10 titles at any Grand Slam event. Margaret Court is the only player in history to have won 10 or more titles at one Grand Slam event, winning the Australian Open on 11 occasions between 1960 and 1973 [see Preview page 1].

Nadal is bidding to further extend the record he set at 2013 Roland Garros for the most men’s Grand Slam titles at any one event. He won the title here in 2005-08 and 2010-14. He is the only man in history to have won 5 titles in a row at Roland Garros.

Nadal is bidding to win his 53rd career clay court title at Roland Garros. By winning his 50th clay court title at Monte Carlo-1000, he set an Open Era record for the most career clay court titles ahead of Vilas (49).

By defeating Pablo Carreno Busta in the quarterfinals here, Nadal recorded his 100th best-of-5-sets match-win on clay. He has a 100-2 win-loss record in best-of-5-sets matches on clay, with his only defeats coming at Roland Garros – in the round of 16 in 2009 (l. Robin Soderling) and the quarterfinals in 2015 (l. Djokovic).

By reaching his 25th Grand Slam semifinal, Nadal has closed the gap on Andre Agassi in 5th place on the Open Era list for most Grand Slam semifinal appearances. Only Federer (41), Djokovic (31), Jimmy Connors (31), Ivan Lendl (28) and Agassi (26) have reached more major semifinals than Nadal.

By reaching his 10th Roland Garros semifinal, Nadal has extended the record he set in 2014 for most Roland Garros semifinal appearances in the Open Era ahead of Djokovic (8), Federer (7), Borg (6) and Mats Wilander (6).

By reaching his 10th semifinal here, Nadal has become just the 5th man in the Open Era to reach 10 semifinals at a single Grand Slam event. Federer has achieved the feat at 3 of the majors, while Connors has done so at 2 Grand Slams.

Players to reach 10 semifinals at a single Grand Slam event (Open Era)

Roger Federer	13 Australian Open semifinals, 11 Wimbledon semifinals, 10 US Open semifinals
Jimmy Connors	14 US Open semifinals, 11 Wimbledon semifinals
Andre Agassi	10 US Open semifinals
Novak Djokovic	10 US Open semifinals
Rafael Nadal	10 Roland Garros semifinals

Nadal’s 3rd round win over Basilashvili here was the first time a man has dropped just one game in a completed match at Roland Garros since 2008, when Tomas Berdych defeated wild card Robert Smeets 61 60 60 in the 1st round and David Ferrer defeated Fabrice Santoro 60 61 60 in the 2nd round.

Nadal’s 3rd round win over Basilashvili was his best victory in a best-of-5-sets match on clay in terms of games dropped. He has dropped 3 games or fewer in a completed best-of-5-set match on clay on 7 occasions:

Nadal dropping 3 games or fewer in best-of-5-set matches on clay

Event	Result	Games dropped
2008 Roland Garros – R16	d. Fernando Verdasco 61 60 62	3
2008 Roland Garros – QF	d. Nicolas Almagro 61 61 61	3
2009 Davis Cup – WG 1R	d. Janko Tipsarevic 61 60 62	3
2012 Roland Garros – R16	d. Juan Monaco 62 60 60	2
2014 Roland Garros – R128	d. Robby Ginepri 60 63 60	3
2016 Roland Garros – 128	d. Sam Groth 61 61 61	3
2017 Roland Garros – R32	d. Nikoloz Basilashvili 60 61 60	1

Last year here, Nadal gave a walkover ahead of his 3rd round match with Marcel Granollers due to a wrist injury. This is Nadal’s 13th successive Roland Garros and his 48th appearance at a major.

Nadal is one of only 2 players to have won multiple clay court titles this year along with Alexander Zverev. He won his 10th titles at both Monte Carlo-1000 (d. Albert Ramos-Vinolas) and Barcelona (d. today’s opponent) – becoming the first man in the Open Era to win a singles tournament on 10 occasions – and his 30th Masters 1000 title at Madrid (d. today’s opponent).

Nadal has been coached by his uncle Toni since the age of 4. He added 1998 Roland Garros champion Carlos Moya to his coaching team ahead of the 2017 season.

THIEM is bidding to become the 2nd Austrian player – man or woman – in history to reach a Grand Slam final. 1995 Roland Garros champion Thomas Muster is the only Austrian player to reach the final at a major.

At 23 years 281 days, Thiem is looking to become the youngest man to reach a Grand Slam final since Novak Djokovic (23 years 253 days) and Andy Murray (23 years 260 days) played each other in the final at the 2011 Australian Open. He would be the youngest man to reach the Roland Garros final since today’s opponent (22 years 5 days) in 2008.

Thiem is bidding to become the first No. 6 seed to reach the final at Roland Garros since Yevgeny Kafelnikov won the title in 1996. The last No. 6 seed to reach a Grand Slam final was Milos Raonic at 2016 Wimbledon and the last No. 6 seed to win a major was Juan Martin del Potro at the 2009 US Open.

Thiem is bidding to record his 82nd Tour-level match-win on clay and join Hans Kary in 6th place on the list for most Tour-level clay court matches won by an Austrian man.

Clay court matches won by an Austrian man (Tour-level)

Thomas Muster	426-127
Horst Skoff	178-123
Jurgen Melzer	123-114
Gilbert Schaller	103-96
Stefan Koubek	95-94
Hans Kary	82-126
Dominic Thiem	81-29
Markus Hipfl	56-54

Thiem is bidding to record his 29th Grand Slam match-win and close the gap on Stefan Koubek in 3rd place on the list for most Grand Slam matches won by an Austrian man.

Grand Slam matches won by an Austrian man

Thomas Muster	77-38
Jurgen Melzer	59-53
Stefan Koubek	31-38
Dominic Thiem	28-13
Hermann Artens	19-12

Thiem’s victory against Djokovic was the 250th Tour-level match of his career. He has a 156-94 win-loss record at Tour-level, with 81 of his Tour-level victories coming on clay. By contrast, he has a 66-57 win-loss record on hard courts and a 9-8 win-loss record on grass.

Roland Garros is Thiem’s most successful Grand Slam event in terms of matches won. He has a 12-3 win-loss record here, compared with 8-3 at the US Open, 6-4 at the Australian Open and 2-3 at Wimbledon.

By reaching the semifinals here, Thiem has become the 2nd Austrian man in history to reach multiple Grand Slam semifinals after Muster, who reached the last 4 at the Australian Open in 1989 and 1997 and at Roland Garros in 1990 and 1995.

By defeating Djokovic in the quarterfinals here, Thiem improved his win-loss record against Top 5 players on clay to 6-6. He has a 7-15 win-loss record against Top 5 opposition overall.

Thiem has dropped 39 games en route to reaching the semifinals here – he dropped 76 games when he reached this stage here last year.

By reaching the semifinals here for a 2nd consecutive year, Thiem has equalled his best Grand Slam performance. He also reached the last 4 here last year (l. Djokovic). This is his 4th straight Roland Garros appearance and his 14th Grand Slam overall.
Thiem warmed up for Roland Garros by reaching the finals at Barcelona and Madrid-1000, losing to today’s opponent on both occasions. He is the only player to have defeated today’s opponent on clay this season, winning in the quarterfinals at Rome-1000 before falling to Djokovic in the semifinals.

Earlier this year, Thiem won his 8th career title at Rio de Janeiro, defeating Pablo Carreno Busta in the final. He also reached the quarterfinals at Brisbane (l. Grigor Dimitrov), Sydney (l. Dan Evans), Rotterdam (l. Pierre-Hugues Herbert), Acapulco (l. Sam Querrey) and Indian Wells-1000 (l. Stan Wawrinka), and the round of 16 at the Australian Open (l. David Goffin).

Thiem is seeded No. 6 at this year’s tournament – his highest Grand Slam seeding. He has been seeded at the past 7 Grand Slams, with his previous highest seeding being No. 8 (at 2016 Wimbledon, the 2016 US Open and the 2017 Australian Open).

Thiem recorded a career-high ranking of No. 7 after reaching the semifinals here last year, becoming the 3rd Austrian man – and first since Melzer in 2011 – to reach the Top 10. He plays here at the same ranking.

Thiem is a former junior world No. 2. He reached the boys’ singles final at Roland Garros as No. 14 seed in 2011, losing to Bjorn Fratangelo 36 63 86. As well as reaching the junior Roland Garros final, Thiem’s best junior result is winning the 2011 Orange Bowl.

Thiem joined the Austrian military as part of the country’s mandatory national service for 6 months from November 2014-April 2015, but continued to play on Tour during that time.

Thiem has been coached by Gunter Bresnik in Vienna since 2004. His physio is Alex Stober.

***Statistics courtesy of Grand Slam Media and the ITF.