Dominic Thiem, on Sunday night in New York, closed the title match at the US Open to win his first Grand Slam and, Like Rafa Nadal on big occasions, he stretched out on the floor on his back and covered his face with his hands. Physically broken and broken by emotion.
The 27-year-old Austrian he had just defeated Alexander Zverev (23) 2-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 and 7-6 (8/6) after 4h: 01 of battle. The German had taken the first two sets and even served twice to win in the fifth set, but Thiem, also pulling epic to Nadal, already half lame and with difficulties to serve, knew how to resist until victory. He is the first tennis player born in the 1990s to lift a big one. The man who has broken a streak of 13 Grand Slams in a row between the Spaniard, Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer. With his triumph in the successful bubble of Flushing Meadows he has uncovered himself as the most serious alternative to the Big Three.
“It was a great relief, I took all the pressure off myself”Thiem recounted after collecting the trophy. And it is that before I had gone through the drink of lose the 2018 and 2019 Roland Garros finals (both in front of Nadal) and Australia 2020 (against Djokovic). Always designated as natural successor of the Balearic Islands in Paris, now it has released ballast, which can make it more dangerous. Nadal has won in five of the 14 times they have met and four of them were on clay. A Djokovic, he surpassed him in four of 11 and with Federer he looks face to face in favor (5-2).
“At Roland Garros I will be physically at one hundred percent. What I don't know is how I will manage my emotions. I hope that from now on it will be easier for me to compete in the big tournaments. I think I will be more relaxed and I will be able to play more loosely in the big tournaments. important appointments “, analyzed the Austrian, who has withdrawn from the 1,000 Masters in Rome this week to be ready from the 27th in France. Another lover of the land directs him from the bench, the Chilean Nicolás Massú, and he is one of the tennis players with the most resistance capacity. Djokovic already warned yesterday from Rome: “When I won my first big (Australia, 20 years old) I took a lot of pressure off my shoulders, so after Rafa, he will be the favorite in Paris. “
Thiem, the alternative, He has also gotten into the fight for number one in the ATP, in which the Serbian equaled Sampras yesterday with 286 weeks. This 1,735 points behind Djokovic and 725 behind Nadal. The Balearic, who decided to skip the tour of the United States due to the precarious health situation, He will not be able to add at Roland Garros, because he is the champion, and neither at the Foro Italico in Rome. The austrian it would surpass him in the table of winning in Paris. His first big makes him even more in a threat.