Dominic Thiem Wins First Major Title At U.S. Open, Snapping 4-Year Streak By The “Big Three”
by Adam Zagoria
When he got down two-sets-to-love to Sascha Zverev in the U.S. Open men’s final on Sunday, Dominic Thiem looked like he might go away meekly in his best chance yet to win a Grand Slam title.
The 27-year-old Austrian entered at 0-3 in major finals, losing two French Open finals to Rafael Nadal and this year’s Australian Open final to Novak Djokovic.
Now it appeared he would lose as the favorite to Zverev, the 23-year-old German also seeking his first career major title in his first Slam final.
But No. 2 Thiem hung around and hung around and ultimately prevailed over the fellow German-speaking No. 5 Zverev, 2-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 7-6(6) to capture that elusive first Grand Slam title.
It was the first time in 30 years that a man had come from two sets down to win the title.
No Austrian had ever made the U.S. Open finals. The only Austrian to win a Grand Slam event was Thomas Muster at the 1995 French Open. Thiem also became the first man born in the ‘90s to win a major title.
“If I win, I have my first,” Thiem said entering the final. “If not, I probably have to call Andy Murray.”
Murray and former coach Ivan Lendl are the only men who started their careers 0-4 in major singles finals. But both went on to win multiple Grand Slam titles.
“It’s easy for Andy because he has won three in the meantime,” Thiem said.
It was a U.S. Open with no fans due to the pandemic, but Thiem still picked up $3 million for the win, while Zverev takes home $1.5 million.
Thiem became the first man outside the “Big Three” to win a major title since Stan Wawrinka won the Open in 2016 — snapping a streak of 13 straight major wins by Djokovic, Nadal and Roger Federer. The last man to win his first major title was Marin Cilic at the 2014 U.S. Open.
Before serving for the fifth set at 6-5, Thiem called for the trainer to work on his cramping thigh and received a massage. He was broken in the next game and when the tiebreak began he was clearly limping.
But Thiem got a mini-break for 5-3 and later smacked a forehand passing shot for 6-4 when Zverev approached the net. On his first match point, Thiem smacked a forehand into the net. Thiem then smacked another forehand deep on the second match point.
Finally, on the third match point Zverev hit a backhand wide and Thiem fell to the ground on his back and covered his face with both hands.
“I want to congratulate Dominic on the first of many Grand Slam titles,” Zverev said. “This is not the only one.”
He told his team, “We are on the way up and one day we are going to lift that trophy up together.”
Thiem entered with a 7-2 record against Zverev, including a win in this year’s Australian semis, but he was not at the peak of his game for this match.
Thiem appeared nervous to start the match and struggled on his serve, double-faulting several times as he fell behind a double-break at 2-5. By contrast, Zverev was cool and aggressive from the start, serving out the first set with an ace up the T.
With Thiem repeatedly standing 12-15 feet behind the baseline on the Zverev serve, the German took advantage and played aggressively from inside the baseline. He earned a break for 2-1 in the second set when Thiem sailed a forehand long. Zverev continued to go toe-to-toe with Thiem from the baseline and earned a double-break for 4-1 when Thiem again made a forehand error.
“He’s just getting absolutely destroyed at the moment,” John McEnroe said on air. “Who’s the guy who’s been in three [major] finals?”
Serving at 5-2, Zverev had a set point for a two-sets-to-love lead but badly missed a forehand volley wide and Thiem ended up breaking to get within 3-5.
But Zverev closed it out on his serve for a two-sets-to-love lead. No man had ever blown such a lead in 30 U.S. Open finals.
Thiem started to find the confidence in his game and hung around in the third. Serving at 4-5 in the third, Zverev had a shaky service game and was broken to lose the set and let Thiem back in the match.
In the fourth, Thiem broke for a 5-3 lead when the German had another shaky service game, netting a forehand on break point. Thiem held at love to force a fifth set.