Dominic Thiem wins US Open, his first Grand Slam title

The fourth final was a good one for Dominic Thiem: the Austrian, formidable self-sacrificing, won his first Grand Slam tournament at the US Open after a fantastic comeback, after being led by two sets by l ‘German Alexander Zverev, Sunday, September 13, at Flushing Meadows.

At 27, the 3e world, winner 2-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (8/6) in 4 hours and 1 minute of a grueling fight, finally manages to taste a major coronation, he who had fallen in the final at Roland Garros in 2018 and 2019, each time against Rafael Nadal, then at the last Australian Open in February, beaten by Novak Djokovic.

“Maybe the experience of those three finals actually didn’t work in my favor. I wanted this title so badly and I knew that if I lost I would be 0-4 in the final. I couldn’t get it out of my head. Will this chance come again? “, he explained.

Dominic Thiem is the first new winner of a Major since Marin Cilic at the 2014 US Open. And he is the first outside winner. “Big 3” in four years, from Stan Wawrinka to Flushing Meadows as well, in 2016.

This year, Novak Djokovic was disqualified for a moody gesture in the round of 16, while Roger Federer (operated on a knee) and Rafael Nadal had overlooked this tournament played in unprecedented conditions, dictated by the coronavirus, and in particular behind closed doors.

Falling to the ground, his arms crossed after Zverev’s direct foul on his third match point, he painfully got up and it was his opponent, also his friend off the courts, who came to meet him for the embrace, favoring fair play over the distance imposed by protocol.

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“We both deserved it”

Alexander Zverev (white jersey) bows to his friend Dominic Thiem in the final of the US Open in New York.

“It’s the first of your many Grand Slam titles, no doubt. It was a tough battle, I would have liked him to miss a few more shots to be able to lift the trophy, but here we are, I am making the finalist’s speech ”, then commented on 7e world, passed so close – several times two points before the match – to experience such a first joy.

Instead, the 23-year-old’s tears rose to him at the microphone. He had all the trouble to repress them by evoking how much he missed his parents, who usually follow him on the circuit.

“We’ve known each other since 2014, we became friends straight away and our rivalry started in 2016. It’s amazing where it all got us today. I really would have liked there to be two winners tonight, we both deserved it ”, paid tribute to him Thiem.

After his solid victory in the semi-finals at the expense of Daniil Medvedev, finalist last year, the Austrian slugger appeared as the legitimate favorite of this final. Not to mention that he led 7 wins to 2 against his opponent of the day, and remained on three consecutive wins, the last of which in the semi-finals in Melbourne.

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Historical lift

Dominic Thiem fought to snatch his first Grand Slam tournament, Sunday, September 13, in New York.

This eighth success has a historic flavor because it makes Thiem the first player in seventy years to win a US Open final after being led by two sets to nothing. Two sets during which he missed out on his final, appearing stressed by the challenge and the pressure. He was facing a player surfing on his feat in the semi-final, during which he had just managed for the first time in his career to recover two sets behind to win at the expense of Spaniard Pablo Carreño.

Thiem ended up finding the same mental resources to return to his height despite a break at the start of the third set. And the showdown intensified significantly in the fifth set. Broken at 5-3, the Austrian immediately resumed Zverev’s service and once again in the eleventh game to lead 6-5. But Zverev managed to unbreaker in turn to snatch a decisive game, in which the German ended up cracking.

Prostrated in his chair afterwards, staring into space, he must have wondered how the match had escaped him. But aware of being in turn very close to the goal, he promised his camp: “We are on the right track, one day we will lift a Grand Slam trophy, that’s for sure. “

Read also Tennis: Naomi Osaka wins US Open and wins third Grand Slam title

The World with AFP

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