Australian Open final: Dominic Thiem against Novak Djokovic - there is something!
Novak Djokovic is the favorite in the Australian Open 2020 final against Dominic Thiem . The past has shown that the Serb sometimes weakens in big moments.
by Jens Huiber
last edit: Jan 31, 2020, 02:27 pm
A look at the bare facts initially does not bode well for Dominic Thiem: Novak Djokovic contested twelve individual matches in 2020, six at the ATP Cup, six now at the Australian Open. The world ranking second defeated Rafael Nadal and also Roger Federer, only Daniil Medvedev could be really annoying in the preliminary round of the ATP Cup, but in the end Djokovic also won the game in this game. And yes: history teaches that Novak Djokovic never had to be the first to pick up the microphone at his seven final appearances in Melbourne to congratulate his conqueror. As Thiem put it so nicely after his four-set win against Alexander Zverev: In his major final games so far, he always came up against the king of the respective event - in Roland Garros against Nadal, now against Djokovic.
Nevertheless, the man from Belgrade has shown on certain occasions that he is only human in very big moments. That was the case at the beginning of the semi-final against a battered Federer when Djokovic narrowly missed the 1: 5, but did not know what to do with this situation before.
Thiem won the last two matches against Djokovic
And also against Dominic Thiem, his Sunday final opponent, Novak Djokovic not only has good memories. Even if he still leads 6: 4 victories against the Austrian. However, Thiem was able to win the last two games, initially in the semi-finals of the French Open, under inhospitable conditions that significantly disturbed Djokovic. At that time Thiem won 7-5 in the decision set as well as at the ATP Finals in London, there with this result in the tie-break of round three.
In Grand Slam tournaments, Thiem is just ahead of the pack after three games played, but all of these matches happened to ashes in Roland Garros. There are just as few empirical values on hard court in the best-of-five mode as in the final round of a major. So while Djokovic looks at his 17th major title, Thiem is in a Grand Slam final for the third time. The 26-year-old lost the previous two to Rafael Nadal in Paris in 2018 and 2019. First in three sentences, last year in four.
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Becker would not have been pleased with the break
Of course, the routine speaks for the Melbourne record winner in the first major final in 2020. And also the fact that Novak Djokovic will have had a break longer than Dominic Thiem. Or not? Boris Becker, an ex-coach who is very familiar with Djokovic, reported to Eurosport that such a break in the rhythm of the game would have thrown him out of the concept.
Here are the matches between Dominic Thiem and Novak Djokovic
| year | Tournament (rubber) | winner | Result |
| 2019 | ATP Finals London (hard court, Halle) | Thiem | 6: 7 (5), 6: 3, 7: 6 (5) |
| 2019 | French Open (sand) | Thiem | 6: 2, 3: 6, 7: 5, 5: 7, 7: 5 |
| 2019 | Madrid (sand) | Djokovic | 7: 6 (2), 7: 6 (4) |
| 2018 | Monte Carlo (sand) | Thiem | 6: 7 (2), 6: 2, 6: 3 |
| 2017 | French Open (sand) | Thiem | 7: 6 (3), 6: 3, 6: 0 |
| 2017 | Rome (sand) | Djokovic | 6: 1, 6: 0 |
| 2016 | ATP Finals London (hard court, Halle) | Djokovic | 6: 7 (10), 6: 0, 6: 2 |
| 2016 | French Open (sand) | Djokovic | 6: 2, 6: 1, 6: 4 |
| 2016 | Miami (hard court) | Djokovic | 6: 3, 6: 4 |
Here is the single tableau at the Australian Open 2020
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