Australian Open: Dominic Thiem's victory over Nadal - because he believes in it
On Friday, Dominic Thiem versus Alexander Zverev will be entering the Australian Open 2020 final for the first time. The success against Rafael Nadal has shown that the Austrian has reached a new level.
by Jens Huiber
last edit: Jan 29, 2020, 05:48 pm
Getting a match dry against one of the best three players in the present can be a difficult exercise for any professional. Tennys Sandgren had to find this out the hard way against Roger Federer on Tuesday, Dominic Thiem did not get the final chord against Rafael Nadal very easy either. Thiem, with all due respect to Sandgren, is on another, higher floor of the world tennis. And has already defeated Nadal, Federer and Djokovic. But only the latter in the context of a Grand Slam tournament.
After the epic match against Rafael Nadal, Dominic Thiem now has a win against the Spaniard in the eternal record. Why? Because the 26-year-old is one of the few players who go into every match with the intention of wanting to win it. Because Thiem knows that the conditions are right. Starting with his physical condition, which, apart from the difficult weeks in which Thiem constantly struggles with infections, is one of the best on the tour. Dominic Thiem would not have liked to play a fifth set against Rafael Nadal, but he would have been ready for this challenge.
Thiem is able to cope with setbacks
The aftermath of the game for 5: 5 in the fourth set also showed: Thiem's tolerance for frustration has grown. When the Austrian served for the match, pretty much everything went wrong, Nadal suddenly had the momentum on his side again. Then again the sly forehand at 6: 4 in the tie break. You could break that. But not Dominic Thiem this Wednesday evening in Melbourne. He struggled briefly, quickly he was against himself.
And on Friday he meets a man whom he describes as a good friend and who, like Thiem, came to the Australian Open with few positive experiences from the ATP Cup. Alexander Zverev played one and a half strong sets against Alex de Minaur, then lost the thread. Dominic Thiem looked more solid in Sydney, but in the end only one win against Diego Schwartzman was against two bankruptcies against Hubert Hurkacz and Borna Coric.
Federer also has problems closing
The ninth encounter with Zverev will be the most important in the German-Austrian rivalry: For Zverev, it is about the first ever participation in the final with a major, Thiem could achieve this for the third time. But also for the first time in Melbourne. The German number one had to work much shorter than Thiem, and also had his workday earlier than the Lower Austrian, who probably only found his way to the hotel bed in the early Australian hours of the morning.
Whoever leaves the Rod Laver Arena as the winner on Friday - Thiem or Zverev will already know their final opponent. Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic meet for the 50th time. As is well known, the Swiss also knows how difficult it is to make a match against one of the Big Three, to which Federer himself belongs: two match balls in the 2019 Wimbledon final were not enough against Novak Djokovic.
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