Dominic Thiem outlasts Alexander Zverev, comes back from two sets down to win US Open and first Grand Slam title
Dominic Thiem #DominicThiem
NEW YORK — A nation famous for its alps and its skiers has a new champion. His name is Dominic Thiem and he reached the summit of his sport Sunday in a place that is 20 feet above sea level, awakening from a godawful start and an equally bad bout of nerves to capture his first Grand Slam title on his fourth try.
Showing world-class resilience in a 2-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (6) victory over his longtime friend Alexander Zverev of Germany, the third-ranked Thiem made history, winning the first Open final to be decided by a fifth-set tiebreaker and becoming the first Austrian to win America’s Grand Slam. He joins Thomas Muster, who won the French Open in 1995, as the only Austrians to win a major tennis championship.
Thiem, of course, is also the first man from any nation to take a major title before no fans, during a pandemic, and in a bubble.
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“I achieved a life goal, a dream of myself, which I had for many, many years,” Thiem said. “I dedicated basically my whole life until this point to win one of the four majors. Now I did it.”
A total of 14,273 COVID-19 tests were administered in that bubble, and just as it was getting deconstructed Sunday night, Thiem soldiered through the toughest test of all, a match that took 321 points and four hours and one minute to decide. His exhilaration and relief were palpable as he collapsed to the court, but it was a little bittersweet, considering that his opponent was a good friend who he has known since their junior days. It was why he dispensed with the racket tap and social distancing, and hugged the 23-year-old Zverev, the youngest Open finalist in 10 years, a staggering talent who might well have hoisted the trophy but for a point here and there.
“I think that we were both tested negative maybe 14 times, something like that,” Thiem said. “We just wanted to share this moment. I guess we didn’t put anybody in danger.”
Zverev wanted to hug, too. He congratulated Thiem. “I wish you would have missed a little bit more so I could have (held) that trophy up, but here I am giving the runner’s-up speech,” he said. He started to cry, not just because of the crushing defeat, but because his parents couldn’t be there; they had tested positive for COVID-19 and couldn’t travel to New York.
The currents of emotion ran deep for both men on closing night at the Open, and so did the nerves. Nobody needed to remind Thiem that he was 0-for-3 in finals. Nobody needed to tell either player that 2020 in New York was a prime opportunity to win, with the world No. 1 Novak Djokovic getting defaulted out of the tournament in the fourth round for accidentally hitting a linesperson in the throat with a swatted ball, and with Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal – the other charter members of The Big Three – sitting it out. Once Djokovic was gone it was assured there would be a first-time Slam champion here. Thiem is the first player outside The Big Three to win a Slam since 2016.
For a long while Sunday night, it seemed almost a lock it would be Zverev. At 6-foot-6, he is a long-limbed powerhouse with a wicked arsenal of weapons. Thiem had such respect for his service power that he set up so deep on his serves he almost needed an Uber to get to the baseline. Zverev smoked 16 winners to Thiem’s four in the first set, losing only three points on his serve. Thiem felt as if he had lead weights on his arms and legs.
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He knew this was his chance. He knew he was the favorite, that he had beaten Zverev in seven of their nine meetings.
“The problem was my nerves,” Thiem said. “I was super, super tight. I was tighter than in a long time.” Not that it was his plan, but he wound up following the playbook of Naomi Osaka in the women’s final the day before; Osaka, too, had a disastrous start and then turned it around.
The No. 7 Zverev lost to Thiem in four taut sets last January in the Australian Open semis. Through the first two sets he looked as if his payback would come swiftly. Hoping to become the first German man to win the Open since Boris Becker in 1989, Zverev had the misfortune to see Thiem do to him what he had done to Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta in the semifinals, Carreno Busta bolting out to a two-set lead before Zverev took command.
Zverev went up those first two sets, but even at the end of the second, Thiem was coming on. He saved three set points at 1-5 in the seventh game. Zverev won the set, but this was a different Dominic Thiem. He was playing more freely, the weights coming off. You could feel it. He had a key break in the third set and it looked as if he’d gotten an energy transfusion.
“The match turned when he broke me I think for the first time in the third set. I think he started playing much better and I started playing much worse,” Zverev said.
Thiem locked up the third set and was much the better player in the fourth, making just two unforced errors, against 12 for Zverev. In the eighth game of the fourth, Zverev serving, he had one of his 15 double faults – a huge problem the whole match – and then netted a forehand for the break. Thiem served it out and they headed to the fifth.
It was here that Zverev showed heart and deep resilience of his own. After they exchanged breaks to start the fifth, Zverev had a brilliant hold, winning one of the points of the tournament, a 25-stroke rally full of dazzling shotmaking, Zverev finishing it with a forehand drop volley winner for a 2-1 lead. The set moved on. Zverev was poised to take the title when he forged a massive break in the eighth game of the fifth set, going up 5-3 when Thiem knocked an errant backhand pass. But serving for the championship, Zverev missed a forehand volley and Thiem broke back. Thiem leveled things at 5-5 with an artful forehand passing winner down the line, then broke Zverev once more.
Now it was Thiem serving for the match – and Zverev who came back from the brink, spanking a forehand winner to take it to the breaker.
Near the end, Thiem was cramping for the first time he could remember. They looked like boxers in the final round, almost out on their feet. Zverev went up 2-0 but Thiem came back. Zverev had two crucial double faults. Thiem was the steadier player, but they were both being ultra-cautious. Thiem hit a forehand to go up 6-4, double match point. Zverev escaped on two Thiem forehand errors, but at 6-6, on Zverev’s serve, Thiem stroked a splendid forehand pass for a winner. Zverev sailed a backhand wide on the third match point.
The party was on for Thiem and his team, and he wanted to reach out to his hurting friend, Sascha Zverev.
“It’s amazing how this journey brought us to share this moment with you,” Thiem said. “I think we both deserved it. … You’re going to make it 100 percent.”
Follow Wayne Coffey on Twitter @wr_coffey
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Dominic Thiem outlasts Alexander Zverev, comes back from two sets down to win US Open and first Grand Slam title
Video: Thiem claims US Open title after thrilling fightback (Reuters)
Thiem claims US Open title after thrilling fightback
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