Top 10 of '18, No. 2: Nadal finishes off Thiem in US Open quarterfinal

Click here to read Steve's entire countdown of the Best Matches of 2018.

HIGHLIGHTS: Rafael Nadal d. Dominic Thiem, US Open quarterfinals, 0-6, 6-4, 7-5, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (5)​

“Empty the bucket tonight,” ESPN’s Chris Fowler said as Rafael Nadal and Dominic Thiem began their quarterfinal at the US Open. “That’s what it might take to win this match.”

Fowler’s broadcast partner, John McEnroe, quickly agreed; this rematch of the 2018 French Open final had night-session classic, as well as grueling physical contest, written all over it. But neither commentator knew just how classic, or how physical, it was going to get.

Over the next four hours and 49 minutes, Nadal and Thiem emptied their shot-making buckets and threw everything they had at each other, They leapt in the air, scrambled across the baseline, swung as hard as they could, and then swung a little harder—they literally hit themselves out of their shoes. When Rafa finally walked off a winner at 2:04 A.M., by a suitably Byzantine 0-6, 6-4, 7-5, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (5) scoreline, he left the court in his socks. This year’s US Open, which was played in extreme heat and humidity, had been a tournament of exhausting struggles—Cilic vs. De Minaur, Nadal vs. Khachanov, Osaka vs. Sabalenka, Venus vs. Kuznetsova among them—but Nadal vs. Thiem topped then all.

It was a long struggle, and it was also one that took a long time to develop. Thiem came out swinging, and connecting. He hit five aces and 13 winners in the first set, and handed Nadal a rare bagel in the process.

“I think he was not on his top level in the first set, Thiem said of Rafa’s slow start. “Normally, he doesn’t lose to nobody 6-0. Still, it was great.”

For the first hour the crowd was subdued, as this highly anticipated fight appeared to be rapidly devolving into a blowout. But the silence ended, for good, when Thiem served at 3-4 in the second set. With the score 15-30, Nadal took several steps back in the court and whipped a “banana” forehand pass—one that begins in the doubles alley and hooks inside the singles sideline—to earn two break points. The ice had finally been cracked, the audience finally had a chance to roar, and we were off.

“Have been a very tough start for me,” Nadal said. “After that first set, then the match became more normal. Tough match against a great opponent.”

Asked how he turned it around, Nadal was typically stoical—and accurate—in his assessment:

“The only true is that you have to be able to do things better, to be able to fight for the point and fight for the match, no?”

Nadal said the match was “normal” after the first set, but normal is not necessarily a good thing for Thiem in this matchup. Just as he had in the first set of their Roland Garros final, Thiem played Nadal close for most of the next two sets, only to surrender them with a series of nervous errors in the final games.

But this time Thiem didn’t cave to his more famous opponent. He hit 19 winners in the fourth set—which was an 81-minute mini-war all by itself—and won it in a tiebreaker. This was a step forward for the 25-year-old Austrian; he didn’t end up winning this match, but he might next time.

“I would say [this is] the first really epic match that I played,” Thiem said. “I played some good ones before, but not that long, not that long against the great guys on the Grand Slam stage.”

Those great guys still own the Grand Slam stages for a reason, though, and Nadal showed why in the fifth set. He responded with 15 winners over its 13 games, and finished the night with 55 overall. As usual, he did it without the benefit of free points; Nadal hit just three aces to 18 for Thiem.

Unlike the other majors, US Open epics end in tiebreakers, and even with 2:00 A.M. closing in, that compressed, pressure-filled format helped produce some of the night’s finest shot-making. Perhaps most memorable was Thiem’s perfect crosscourt pass off a nearly-perfect Nadal half-volley. In the end, though, Nadal, as he has so often in the past, asked one too many questions for his opponent to answer. The match ended with Rafa running down a Thiem forehand, and throwing a lob up as high as he could. Too high for Thiem, it turned out, who sent it over the baseline.

“Forever I’m going to remember this match, for sure,” Theim said. “I mean, it’s cruel, sometimes tennis, because I think this match didn’t really deserve a loser. But there has to be one.”

Nadal, of course, was equally philosophical. He had lost a similar, five-set heartbreaker to Novak Djokovic two months earlier at Wimbledon. Both matches could have gone either way; one went against him, the other for him. Having come out a winner and a loser, Rafa understood that it was the contest itself—its quality and entertainment value—that mattered, and that should be celebrated.

“What’s important about this match is the level of tennis, the dramatic match,” Nadal said. “When the things happen like this, the atmosphere and the crowd become more special. People get involved.”

“In some ways when you give everything that you have, win or lose, it’s just someone have to lose, someone have to win, that’s part of the game. But the personal satisfaction when you give everything and you play with the right attitude is the same.”

Nadal-Thiem was memorable for the level of play and the spirit of sportsmanship it produced, as well as for the thoughts and words the two players produced to describe it. It was an epic tale all around.