US Open: What Dominic Thiem really learned from his 2020 success
Dominic Thiem answered questions from the ATP online platform ATPTour.com before the start of the last Grand Slam tournament of the year. Here are the most interesting passages of the conversation.
by Stefan Bergmann
last edit:
Aug 29, 2022, 04:08 pm
Dominic Thiem has returned to the place of his greatest career success to date: In 2020, the Lichtenwörther defeated the German Alexander Zverev in a nerve-racking five-set battle in the final of the North American major tournament. The Austrian still has fond memories of the Grand Slam triumph in the Big Apple, as he proved in an interview with the online magazine of the ATP Tour.
"It always stays fresh, and I think it always will be." At the same time, sport is also a fast-moving business, and everyone wants to achieve something new every day: "I have no advantage from being a [Grand Slam] champion."
Even two years ago, not the best conditions
And then there was the damned wrist injury on the hitting arm. The past 14 months have demanded a lot from the Lower Austrian, especially mentally, the return to the tournament after nine months was anything but smooth. After all: At the clay court tournament in Gstaad, at least it went back to the semi-finals.
However, the 28-year-old has often shown endurance in his career - also here in New York. Before his major triumph two years ago, not everything went as desired. Thiem lost the opening game of the Cincinnati Masters event, which was also held in New York that year due to the Corona crisis, against Filip Krajinovic in two very clear sentences.
"The result was devastating, two and one. It was difficult because usually when you lose you travel to a different tournament venue. That's where you reset, but back then everything stayed the same. I remember I was one, two I took days off. Because of the 'bubble' I just stayed at the hotel and tried to find something to distract myself."
"There is always light at the end of the tunnel"
After that, everything took a surprisingly different path and Thiem woke up to his third Grand Slam final day on September 13, 2020: "I remember the morning very well, everything was normal. The warm-up with Nico Massu went very well. I have felt great. It wasn't much different than the other three Grand Slam finals I'd played. However, everything changed once the match started - all of a sudden I got enormously nervous and stiff."
The Austrian lost the first two rounds 2: 6 and 4: 6 - a 0: 2 set deficit, which, however, enabled Thiem to go "all-in" again: "I said to myself - 'If you don't relax now, if you don't let go now, you'll lose anyway.' So it was the last chance I had to release the handbrake and play more aggressively, faster."
What followed was an example of what is possible if you don't give up. Thiem completely turned the momentum around, fought his way through one or the other hairy situation and prevailed in the tie-break of the fifth set. "The lesson I learned was that there's always light at the end of the tunnel, even when you think there isn't, even when things are getting really tough or when there's a lot of pain."
And then the Austrian's circle of thoughts closes: "Especially at the beginning of my hand injury, I had this feeling quite often. But somehow after a while there is always a small step forward. Seeing these small positive things is very important. And that doesn't count only for tennis or sport in general, but for life as a whole." How true.
Here the single tableau from New York.
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