Thiem in the final of the ATP Finals – crime victory over Djokovic

For Thiem, his 300th ATP individual victory was very special. In the tie-break of the second set, the 27-year-old Austrian missed four match balls and used the sixth over an hour later. The US Open winner and finalist from last year is fighting for the title at the final ATP tournament of the year for the second time in a row. Thiem had defeated last year’s winner Stefanos Tsitsipas and Nadal in group games.

As in the previous year, Thiem beat two of the “big three” in the ATP season match, which was worth $ 5.7 million. How much these victories over Roger Federer, Nadal and Djokovic are worth, another statistic shows: it was the fifth victory over “Djoker” in match number 12 and Thiem is the only player besides Andy Murray (GBR) who against the three living legends of the tennis have won at least five. It’s 5: 2 against Federer, 6: 9 against Nadal.

With this success, by the way, his fifth out of a current No. 1, Thiem has already secured 800 ATP counters and 861,000 US dollars (725,786 euros) in gross prizes. The final is about 500 more points and an additional $ 550,000 for Thiem.

“It was definitely a mental battle. I was so nervous in the second move tie-break,” said a relieved Thiem after writing “300 🙂 Play for the Ocean” on the television camera. “Playing against these legends will always be something special and playing the final here is also very special.” He relativized his assumption that he would now be more liberated in the big games after the win at Flushing Meadows.

“After my first big title in New York, I thought I would be a little calmer, but apparently it was a mistake,” he laughed at the O2 Arena, which was empty due to the crown crisis. “I was as nervous as ever, the game was on the brink. I am incredibly happy to be over.”

Thiem now wants to take the last step in London. “Having fought so hard, of course I want to try everything to win the title. We definitely now have another winner for the first time here,” Thiem explained, because Nadal and Medvedev didn’t win the ATP Finals either.

The match started evenly, if not upper class first. The three best players remained intact in the service. It wasn’t until 5: 5 that Thiem was the first to find a break point opportunity. And he used it at 6: 5 and then served with an ace at 7: 5 after 51 minutes.

In the second round it was Thiem who found a break opportunity at 2: 2 and 30:40, which the 33-year-old Serbian was able to dodge. With Djokovic 4: 3, Thiem had to defend against a breakball for the first time. It got really tight at 5: 6 when Thiem fell behind with 15:40. But thanks to the new strong serves in the “big points”, he fought back against both set balls and drew 6: 6.

This tie-break was extremely dramatic, but this time at the disadvantage of the 17-time winner of the Lichtenwörth tournament: at 6: 5.7: 6.9: 8 and 10: 9, Thiem had no fewer than four match balls, all of which remained without use: the double error was particularly bitter at 7:6. So it was the Serbian who used his fourth set at 12:10 and fixed the compensation.

After two hours of play, the set of decisions began. In this, Thiem and Djokovic held their services until another tiebreaker at 2:45. And in this, Thiem managed to catch up, which was no longer considered possible: after a double error at the start, he fell 4-0, something that Djokovic can no longer take normally. But with two aces, Thiem scored six points in a row to make it 6: 4, Nicolas Massu’s protégé used the sixth match point to win.

Thiem has won five of the last seven games against the “Djoker” and returned the favor by losing in five sets this year in the Australian Open final. And Djokovic was quite impressed: “What he did at 0: 4 in the tie-break was unreal,” said the Serb after his narrow defeat. “I don’t think I played bad. I brought all my first serves. He just hit the balls and it all came in. What can you do?” Djokovic said. “I just have to take off my hat and say ‘Congratulations.’

With this loss, Djokovic missed his planned sixth ATP Finals title, which would have tied him with the record of winner Roger Federer. The defeat also secured the next new winner at the “Masters”: neither Rafael Nadal, Dominic Thiem and Daniil Medwedew have triumphed there so far. There will also be the sixth consecutive winner after Djokovic (2015), Andy Murray (2016), Grigor Dimitrov (2017), Alexander Zverev (2018) and Stefanos Tsitsipas (2019).

Thiem is face to face with Medvedev 3: 1, this year he won at the US Open en route to winning the title in the semi-finals with 6: 2.7: 6 (7), 7: 6 (5). For both players it is the second title of the season. While the 27-year-old Lower Austria triumphed at Flushing Meadows for the first time, Medvedev won the trophy at the Masters 1000 event in Paris. “Dominic is playing amazingly at the moment, I saw him at the US Open where we are at a good level. There he won his first Grand Slam title. We will see how it goes tomorrow,” Medvedev said. in a first reaction on the field for the final.

The Russian won for the first time in the fourth duel with Nadal, thus also corresponding to the defeat in the group phase of the 2019 edition of the final phase of the season of the eight best players. After 2:35 hours, Medvedev destroyed hopes of Nadal’s first success in the ATP Finals from the start with the first ball of the match. The Spaniard had previously stopped at 6: 3.5: 4 and served before the victory, but Medvedev struggled to recover again.