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25 years after Thomas Muster at the French Open, the 27-year-old Lower Austria won a Grand Slam singles title on Sunday (local time) as the second Austrian. For the victory, Thiem cashes a check for three million US dollars (2.53 million euros) and 2,000 ATP meters. On the fourth attempt in a major final after the 2018 and 2019 French Open, as well as this year at the Australian Open, it finally worked to great success for the world number three.
Thiem: “The topic is now marked”
“I hope the title makes it a bit easier for me overall, because I’ve had a great race so far, which I am very proud of and which I never expected. But the really big title has been absent so far. The issue is now marked and I hope and hope a little bit that it will help me and that I will go to the really big matches and tournaments with a little more ease, “said Thiem after the biggest win of his career so far.
Thiem screwed up his career prize money to $ 26.9 million, but he’s still third in the ATP rankings for now. By the way, Thiem is the first Grand Slam winner since Croatian Marin Cilic, also at the US Open, in 2014. In the professional era since 1968, Thiem is the first player to enter a US Open final. 0: 2 has delivered sets.
“It was a completely crazy game”
“I really can’t believe it yet. It was a completely crazy game, a completely crazy day too. I think you saw how nervous I was at first. It was absolutely abnormal. I was overwhelmed in the first two sentences, “Thiem also gave a reason for his performance in the first two sentences in the ServusTV interview.
Zverev started his first grand finale very well, but Thiem had major service issues and didn’t move as well as he had in the entire US Open before. In the third game, Lower Austria had to give up their service to put the 1: 2, while the German remained inviolable when serving. With double errors two and three in the seventh game, Thiem gave his opponent a double break opportunity, which he also used to make it 5-2. The first sentence went down in history after just 30 minutes. A true false start for Thiem.
After 1:19 hours, Zverev had a 2-0 lead in the set
Also in the second set, the game remained surprisingly one-sided: Thiem struggled with every service game and made too many double errors. Zverev only had to leave for the first time in the fourth game. Another break to 2: 1 and another to 4: 1 quickly made it clear that Thiem was hard to beat. After 54 minutes, Thiem was clearly 2: 6; 1: 4 back. At 5: 1, Zverev had three break balls and thus placed balls, but left them as unused as a fourth at 5: 3. Thiem took his first opportunity for the first rebreak to 3: 5 and increased the pressure on Zverev with a first service game to zero. At 5: 4, 30:30 Thiem still had two points to go to make the 5: 5, but Zverev used ball number five after 1:19 hours to lead the set 2-0.
In the third round it happened in the suite for the third time: Thiem gave up the service again at 1: 2 and now he finally had his back to the wall. The now 17-time tournament winner simply failed to reduce his own error rate: Since the Thiem of the first six games at this US Open, there was initially very little to see Sunday at Flushing Meadows. With the fourth breakball and thanks to the help of Zverev with the double errors seven and eight, Thiem achieved at least this time the immediate rebreak to 2: 2.
“In the end it was just drama”
“It was then that I started to play better and better. In the end, it was just drama. But with my whole career, the way it all went, the first really big title had to be like this, ”said Thiem overjoyed. “It was a worthy end to the US Open. The fact that he has now won a Grand Slam singles tournament is, of course, absolutely unfeasible at this point. “
Thiem was attentive this time, he showed up every time at the service and he moved better too. Zverev had to serve against the loss of the set at 4: 5 in the first pressure situation and Thiem managed the break at 6: 4 after 2:09 hours.
In the fourth round, Thiem found the first break opportunities at 3: 2 and 15:40 to serve Zverev, but couldn’t take them. Thiem stayed focused and took the next opportunity to break to 5: 3 to 4: 3. After 2:52, Lichtenwörther served with the game to 6: 3 in the fifth set.
The last sentence became the “crime of nail biting”
Thiem made the break immediately early on, but had to give up serve to make it 1-1. The last round turned into an absolutely thrilling crime thriller: Thiem fell behind 3: 5 and his great comeback was hardly rewarded. When Thiem made the break at 6: 5 he looked fine, but had to call the physical therapist, who had to massage his right thigh due to cramps.
Zverev rebreaked and was saved in the tiebreak after 3:51 hours. In this Thiem fell 2-0 down, but then got his first two match points at 6: 4. But only the third at 7: 6 was finally able to use.
