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“Even if it was a difficult year, it will always have a special place in my heart,” Thiem said Sunday night, referring to the title at the US Open.
“I achieved one of my life goals by winning this Grand Slam tournament.” Even if he was denied the second great title, even his conqueror Daniil Medvedev praised Thiem’s tennis.
“If Dominic plays like he does today, he is one of the best players in history, maybe not in terms of titles or Grand Slams, but when he plays like this,” Medvedev said after the 4: 6.7: 6.6: 4- close. . “Beating him in this way was probably the best victory of my life.” But the 24-year-old Russian himself has also placed himself in a strong starting position for 2021 with victories in Paris-Bercy and London.
In addition to the big triumph at Flushing Meadows, Thiem also reached the final at the Australian Open and the O2 Arena. Furthermore, due to the special crown rule, the final of the 2019 French Open at Roland Garros remains in the ranking. An attack on number one now seems like the next logical step for the Lichtenwörther.
“I have not set any goals for next year, but of course I want to continue climbing in the classification. But everything is very tight: Rafa and Nole are still there, Roger will return next year,” said Thiem the “great”. three “Nadal, Djokovic and Federer. With Medvedev, Alexander Zverev, Stefanos Tsitsipas and, since this year, Andrej Rublew, there are six or seven players who will fight for the top spots in the next few years.
How things will go is still in the stars of the entire tennis scene. Because the particularly strict crown policy in Australia could lead to some postponements, and the Australian Open could not start as planned on January 18. But given that the February tournaments in South America are very uncertain, there would be time.
Thiem will adapt the start of the preparation to this. “From now on, we can enter Australia on January 1 at the earliest. I also think it can still go backwards,” Thiem said. Normally the ATP Cup should start in early January and include a two week quarantine period before that, players would have to travel “down” in mid-December.
Thiem flew home on Monday, in another lockdown, but out of the even tighter “bubble life” on the ATP tour. “Normal life isn’t there, but I’m definitely looking forward to getting out, to have a little more sunshine and fresh air again.” Thiem didn’t want to complain about hard times.
In tennis you have the privilege of being able to play events despite the pandemic. “If there is no other way, it will have to continue like this, even early next year. But I certainly don’t want to play in front of anyone for the next eight years. It will probably be much better to go back to playing in full stadiums.” Thiem misses the audience. However, it was important to many fans who were jobless and had real trouble delivering good entertainment. “That could make you forget the hard times for two or three hours.”
In any case, the ATP Finals were one of the most successful events for Austrian tennis. Just having two ÖTV players with the top eight singles and doubles was a huge success. But having two finalists in a world sport was extraordinary. Even if there was no happy ending for either Thiem or Jürgen Melzer in doubles. In 2018 at Roland Garros, by the way, it was Thiem and Oliver Marach in doubles who were also in two finals. Both were also lost.
The year 2020 also accelerated the progressive changing of the guard of the superstars Nadal, Djokovic, Federer. Thiem is now only the second player after Andy Murray to win against all three at least five times. He, Medvedev, Zverev, etc. are ready for the future, not just after this trio’s career is over. “This is our challenge, that we play well in the big tournaments and that we become big stars ourselves,” Thiem said of the eternal discussion about the changing of the guard.
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