An original poster and a historic winner. Sunday, September 13 (10 p.m. KST), the final of the US Open between the Austrian Dominic Thiem and the German Alexander Zverev – behind closed doors due to the coronavirus – will see for the first time since Stanislas Wawrinka in New York in 2016 a player other than a member of the Big 3 – Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic – register his name in the Grand Slam. The three cannibals of the circuit have indeed left nothing but crumbs to the competition: since 2004, only 10 of 65 Majors have escaped the Helvetian-Hispano-Serbian cartel.
After three lost finals (Roland-Garros 2018 and 2019 against Nadal and Melbourne 2020 against Djokovic), Thiem (27 years old) seems better armed than Zverev (23 years old) to win in the health bubble of Flushing Meadows his first Grand Slam title. Propelled big favorite of the tournament after the disqualification of Djokovic – the Serb unintentionally threw a ball at a referee in the round of 16 against the Spaniard Carreño Busta – “Domi” nevertheless remains cautious.
“I will approach this game like the previous six. Ever since Djokovic left the tournament, we knew there would be a new Grand Slam winner and since then I have stopped thinking about it. I only focused on the guys who were still in the race ”, Thiem warned after his victory on Friday against Russian Daniil Medevedev in the semi-finals.
“Thiem is so strong right now that he is at the Big 3 level”
(Mats Wilander, former Swedish tennis champion)
So far, the Austrian right-hander has, on the courts of the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, successfully carried out his enterprise of methodical demolition of his opponents. The first two rounds against the Spaniard Munar and the Indian Nagal? Shipped in three dry sets. The Croatian Marin Cilic, winner of the US Open in 2014, tried to stop his forward march by snatching a set, but ended up giving in under the blows. The following ? A simple formality. The Canadian Félix Auger-Alliassime (20 years old) and the Australian Alex De Minaur (21 years old), two kids from the “Next gen ‘”, will have learned the hard way, chewed up by the overpowering blows of the world number three.
The half against Medvedev had everything of a final before the hour, and the match kept its promise: Thiem, mental foolproof, was able to dismiss a set point in the second and third sets to destroy, again in three sets, the heroic finalist’s hopes against Nadal in 2019.
Precise, clinical, Dominic Thiem, with one-handed backhand as devastating as it is aesthetic, is a complete player, who has been able to raise his level of play, observes Nicolas Escudé. “He’s hitting the ball tighter than before, stands much closer to his baseline even on return serve and serves very, well, lists the old 17e worldwide in 2000. At the Masters [le tournoi qui réunit les huit meilleurs joueurs de la saison] last year he was exceptional in some games. “ For Mats Wilander, no doubt: “Thiem is so strong right now that he’s at the Big 3 level, got excited the former Swedish tennis champion – winner of the US Open in 1988 – Friday on Eurosport. Most impressive ? This is his attitude, his game: he never tries madness but varies well. “
The designated heir
Member of the top 10 for more than four years, “Domi” is also putative successors to the world throne, the one who has the most honorable record against Djokovic, Nadal and Djokovic, against whom he has even had more victories than many in the last twelve months. defeats. He said at the end of last season: “ I think next year [en 2020], we will have options to stop the hegemony of the Big 3 in the Grand Slams. We will see a new Grand Slam winner next year. “
It has never been so close. But before touching Olympus, the world number three, coached by former Chilean player Nicolas Massu, will have to get rid of Alexander Zverev. The German of Russian origin, capable of both the best and the worst during this New York fortnight, like his miraculous victory on Friday against the Spaniard Carreño Busta, also has the opportunity to win his first Grand Slam, eight months after his half in Australia, lost against… Dominic Thiem. “I am in the final of a Grand Slam. The two best players in the world will be on the court ”, Zverev warns.
But we do not see how the world number seven could prevent the steamroller Thiem from inscribing his name on the trophy made by the prestigious jeweler Tiffany. Unless his ankle pain that appeared at the end of his match against Medvedev shatters the Austrian’s dreams.
