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Dominic Thiem will face world number one Novak Djokovic today (no earlier than 3 pm live on Sky) in the fight for his second consecutive final in the ATP Finals. Yesterday the Serbian won the match for the second place of the group “Tokyo 1970” against the German Alexander Zverev 6: 3, 7: 6 (4). The “Djoker”, who is aiming for his sixth London title, is playing for the first time since the narrow victory in the Australian Open final against Thiem, whom he defeated after a 2-1 set.
The course of Thiem’s tournament at the O2 Arena is similar to that of 2019: the first two group wins, then a loss in the last group match. “At that time I was really sick. Then I had the same problem as in Vienna (foot with blisters, note), so I was happy to have somehow survived the third game of the group.”
As in 2019, he once again has the advantage of the break from the day before the semifinals. But right now he badly needed the day. “It is a little different this year because I am in top form.”
Thiem has seen the changing of the guard of the “Big Three” (Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Djokovic) in the ATP Finals for several years now. “I think the changing of the guard started in the final in 2017, when Grigor (Dimitrov) won. Since then, Sascha (Zverev) and Stefanos (Tsitsipas) have won, and the winners are getting younger and younger.” Also in the Masters 1000 tournaments, the winners are now “confused”. “What was still open were the Grand Slam tournaments,” said Thiem, who demonstrated with his victory at the US Open.
Melzer in the semifinals too
Besides Thiem, Jürgen Melzer is also in the semi-finals in London.
In doubles, Melzer and his partner Edouard Roger-Vasselin (Fra) benefited with a score of 6: 6 (1: 0) from the abandonment of Spanish Marcel Granollers, who played alongside Horacio Zeballos (Argentina). Melzer and Roger-Vasselin are now even group winners. In today’s semifinals (7pm, Sky live), the duo will face second-seeded Rajeev Ram (USA) / Joe Salisbury (England).
