Dominic Thiem after defeating Roger Federer - "It's unreal"
Who would have thought that possible after the rather weak start to the season? Dominic Thiem won the greatest title of his career at the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Indian Wells.
by APA
last edit: Mar 18, 2019, 07:11 am
Dominic Thiem really deserves this title. In the third attempt in a Masters 1000 tournament, it finally worked out for the 25-year-old from Lower Austria after a fabulous performance against superstar Roger Federer on Sunday. In the high-class final of the $ 8.359 million event in Indian Wells, he defeated the Swiss with 3: 6.6: 3.7: 5 after 2:02 hours.
His twelfth ATP title is by far the most valuable so far, both in terms of prize money and 1,000 points. Only at the French Open 2018 did Thiem make 1,200 points more for the ranking by moving into the final. The reward for this is rank 4 and thus equalizing his best position in the ATP ranking so far and fifth place in the ATP Race to London.
Federer congratulates Thiem on a great week
"It is unreal. The whole match was like in a trance. I enjoyed every second," said Thiem in a first reaction on the court. After the triumph he had fallen on his back in front of his mother Karin with joy to let. "I first had to get used to Roger's game because he played incredibly in the first set and very different from my opponents in this tournament before." Then he fought his way into the match. "I was a little lucky when I stopped the breakballs early in the second set and it was a fight to the end. I was nervous when I had to serve it out." The win means a lot to Thiem, who was looked after by Neo-Touring coach Nicolas Massu in Indian Wells. "I lost my first two 1000 finals and I won here. It's almost as valuable as a Grand Slam title."
Federer, who recently won his 100th ATP title and is now 2: 3 behind Thiem in the head-to-head, showed himself as a fair loser as always and seemed honestly pleased with the Austrian. "Congratulations, you really deserve it after this great week," said the living tennis legend. Federer also hinted that he hopes to return to this very popular location in 2020.
Thiem on the trail of Thomas Muster
Thiem thanked Federer modestly and just as kindly. "Roger, what a pleasure to still be playing against you and learning so much from you. Playing with one of the greatest legends of all time, in such a big finale, it's a bit unreal to me," explained the Lichtenwörther . "It is not my right to congratulate you, you have 88 more titles than me, so I just hope that you will play much longer and hopefully we will have a few more big finals. Thanks for everything."
Thiem received $ 1.354 million (€ 1.2 million) for the title and now exceeded the $ 15 million mark in career prize money. It holds gross at $ 15,626,550. Thiem is only the second Austrian after Thomas Muster to win a tournament in this category.
Günter Bresnik highly satisfied from afar
The match was at a high level. In front of 16,100 spectators, Federer made the first break of the final to 2: 0 in the first service game Thiems, after he had initially fought off three break balls at 0:40. Milos Raonic had not found so many breakballs in the whole match against the Lower Austrian. Federer made it 3-0 with a safe game. Thiem was then able to write to zero for the first time, but Federer was already 4: 1 after 19 minutes. With increased pressure on the backhand and after an excellent return game, Thiem managed the rebreak to 3: 4. But a Federer in a great mood for the game once again managed to take the service from the French Open finalist of the previous year 5: 3. After 36 minutes, Thiem fell behind the 20-time Grand Slam winner with 0: 1 sets.
"A deserved set win for Federer," said the Thiem head coach Günter Bresnik who stayed at home on ServusTV. "There is a difference in quality, but the difference is small. But Dominic doesn't serve as consistently as in the semi-finals," Bresnik said at the time.
Thiem with the better nerves
The small difference should soon be expressed in numbers. In the second set Thiem prevented an early loss of service, at 1-1 he fended off two breakballs. Federer's performance declined for a while, especially on the first serve, Thiem used the break to make it 3-1 and after 59 minutes, Thiem was suddenly 4: 1 on course set equalization. And he could not be dissuaded from it: after 1:14 hours, the Lower Austrian forced a decision-making process with 6: 3.
In this Federer increased again and could rely more on his service again. Both players acted more confidently in their serve, but in the eighth game at 3: 4 from Thiem's point of view, the Lower Austrian got into trouble: first 0:30 after two forehand errors, then at 30:40, Thiem fended off the first break ball of the third set, but only with the third chance did he make it 4: 4. In great rallies Thiem then managed the only break of the set to 6: 5, Thiem served nervously, but to the greatest triumph of his career so far.