Several years have passed in which Dominic Thiem has established itself as the great alternative to the trio that has dominated tennis for more than a decade: Roger Federer, Rafa Nadal and Novak Djokovic. And a couple of weeks ago, the Austrian increased his stripes with the title of US Open, his first Grand Slam after three failed attempts: this year in Australia against Djokovic and the last two Roland Garros finals against Nadal.
And it is there, on the clay of Paris, where the current world number 3 wants to change history. Thiem is playing like a charm under conditions that are favorable to him, more than in other years, due to the cold and heavy Wilson balls that the tournament now uses. “I love it, I'm from Austria”, Thiem even said about the atypical conditions that tennis players are experiencing at Roland Garros when playing in the autumn. Thus, his confidence and great fitness give him many integers to enter a place unknown to everyone since July 25, 2005.
That day, Nadal became number 2 in the ATP ranking for the first time in his career at the expense of Lleyton Hewitt, a rung that only three other tennis players have had the privilege of occupying since then: Federer, Djokovic and Andy Murray. What must Thiem do to break that barrier? As simple as it is complicated: raise the Cup of the Musketeers next October 11. As if the company were not complicated in itself, it should be noted that in the semifinals he could meet Nadal, who has never beaten at Roland Garros, and in the final with Djokovic. And another fact to take into account: if Thiem is proclaimed champion, he will equal the Balearic's record of being the the only player who has won both the US Open and Roland Garros in the same season this millennium (Rafa did it four times: 2010, 2013, 2017 and 2019). Numbers, records, titles … Thiem wants them all.