Austria's athlete of the year: Dominic Thiem hopes for his first victory
After his first victory at a Grand Slam tournament, Dominic Thiem can also hope for a premiere this year in the election for Austria's athlete of the year 2020.
by Nikolaus Fink
last edit: Nov 03, 2020, 09:44 pm
Dominic Thiem can already look back on what is probably the best season of his career so far before the ATP Finals in London: If the 27-year-old missed his first Grand Slam victory in the final against Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open by a hair's breadth, Thiem fulfilled himself in New York this September his lifelong dream.
2: 6, 4: 6, 6: 4, 6: 3, 7: 6 (6) - these were the bare numbers of the US Open final against Alexander Zverev. The result was preceded by a more than four-hour battle in which Thiem made up an almost unrecoverable deficit and then immortalized himself in Austrian sports history.
Alaba probably the biggest competitor
Not least because of this, the third in the world rankings is the favorite in the election for Austria's athlete of the year. The biggest challenger is probably footballer David Alaba, who won the national championship, the cup and the Champions League in 2020 with his club FC Bayern Munich.
In addition to Alaba and Thiem, the members of the sports journalists' association Sports Media Austria also heaved handball player Nikola Bilyk, ski jumper Stefan Kraft and alpine ski racer Matthias Mayer into the quintet. But one thing seems clear: Alaba and Thiem will agree on the title among each other.
Alaba could already achieve its third success in the athlete election after 2013 and 2014, for Thiem the victory would be a first. Since 2015, the Lichtenwörther has finished second three times and was also third twice. The winner will be announced on November 10th.