After French Open: Dominic Thiem in a league with ...?
With the second consecutive French Open final, Dominic Thiem has emancipated himself from the rest of the field. With the exception of the legends Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.
by Jens Huiber
last edit: Jun 11, 2019, 03:03 pm
Before his second final appearance at a Grand Slam tournament, Dominic Thiem never tired of emphasizing the extraordinary company he had been in in the preliminary round: three players with at least 15 major titles would be in the final phase of the French Open in 2019 knight the Coupe des Mousquetaires - and he, the 25-year-old from Lower Austria, who has been playing on almost all levels with these all-time greats for some time. But just couldn't get any of the four biggest tournaments.
With his success in the semi-finals against Novak Djokovic, Thiem has at least caught up with Kevin Anderson - and has thus taken a leading position in the race for the title of "best active player who has never won a major". Like Thiem, Anderson has recently reached two Grand Slam finals (US Open 2017, Wimbledon 2018). And like the Lichtenwörther, Anderson had no real chance of winning the title in his two most important matches.
Nadal can raise his level
Dominic Thiem showed fantastic tennis against Rafael Nadal on Sunday and could have won first set. Who knows how this match would have turned out then. However, Nadal has shown why he is a great champion: at the latest after losing run two, the Spaniard adapted his game idea, took the balls earlier, and became more offensive. Nadal's network attacks were mostly successful - on the one hand because he usually prepared them very promisingly. But also because Rafael Nadal's volley is generally not appreciated enough.
The fact that Nadal was able to raise and then maintain his level was also due to the special circumstances of the days before the final: As fit as Dominic Thiem is, as much as Physio Alex Stober has done for the regeneration of his protégé: in the third hour of play at the latest on Sunday at the Philippe Chatrier Court, it could not be denied that Thiem had to run a marathon on Saturday. All the more remarkable that he still had several chances to get Nadal's serve at the start of set four.
Thiem better than Berdych, Tsonga, Nishikori
A roof over the largest stadium of the facility is announced for 2021 at the latest, one that can also be closed (this should not be the case next year). This will take the organizers out of their duty to rethink their schedule: Nadal made his quarter-finals on Tuesday, and his semifinals on Friday. After the rainy Wednesday, Thiem had to work four days in a row from Thursday. Unfortunate, certainly - and with normal tournament progress still better than at the Australian Open, where the two semi-finals are played on different days. Perhaps, however, one could take bonds in Wimbledon in Paris, Melbourne and New York, where in the second week from the round of 16 all players have to go into the jackpot on the same day.
Dominic Thiem has two finals on his credit side, that's more than Thomas Muster, who went to Paris for his compatriot's final. And that's more than Tomas Berdych, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga or Kei Nishikori. This alone illustrates Thiem's achievements in Paris over the past two years. So that the Lichtenwörther can go one step further, he could also orientate himself on patterns: And go to the other Grand Slam tournaments with even higher demands. Because not only for the ashes in Paris, Thiem's approach to the game is a promising promise - the huge success could also come at the US Open, but especially at the first major of the year in Melbourne. There Thomas Muster made it to the semi-finals.