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Winning after a 0: 2 deficit in the set, Thiem achieved a career highlight, which can and should be followed by others. The world number three has every chance of becoming one of the greatest Austrian athletes of all time. However, Thiem eventually made the leap to a world star with an Austrian’s first hard-court Grand Slam win and second major victory after Thomas Muster (French Open 1995).
With the first Grand Slam title after three final matches lost, the last skeptics of Thiem’s career fell silent. Thiem probably deserved the title more than anyone else, wrote Novak Djokovic on social media. He knew from experience that the first success of a Grand Slam was a “great relief,” said the world number one. “You start to believe in yourself more and you have less pressure.”
Thiem wins the US Open
Dominic Thiem was expected to become a great tennis player since he was a teenager. Over the years in the top ten and with numerous successes, the 27-year-old Austrian has finally completed his career from rough diamonds to Grand Slam winner with victory at the US Open.
A fact that Bresnik also sees as the basis for more Grand Slam titles. According to the former coach, the overall package for this is the best in Thiem. “I have been saying that for years. Now he has finally confirmed it. And I hope this is finally a corresponding boost for the future, because he will not be satisfied with a Grand Slam title, “Bresnik said of Thiem’s hunger for success.
Superior attitude from early youth
An attitude that Bresnik recognized in his former protégé from an early age. “The boy never asked me when training ended,” Bresnik said. Thiem’s ambition, but also the huge financial and temporal commitment of the entire Thiem family (grandfather, for example, accompanied young Thiem to tournaments in Croatia) were an important cornerstone for Bresnik’s success.
Thiem laid the first stone with his coach, mentor and coach Bresnik from the age of eight. Thiem’s parents, Wolfgang and Karin, are not only tennis instructors, they also gave Bresnik their unconditional trust from a young age. The coach even influenced Thiem’s upbringing off the court and transformed the diamond in the rough, which had dominated the youth scene in its early days, into a sports gem.
One handed backhand to success
It wasn’t always easy for Thiem: especially when Bresnik broke the twelve-year-old’s two-handed backhand. Bresnik knew, however, that Thiem would not get where he wanted with this “B-Hander” or with his overly passive style of play. When Bresnik took the second hand off the bat, Thiem lost a row of matches. The training scene shook his head, as Bresnik impressively describes in his book “The Dominic Thiem Method,” but his gaze turned to the future.
At the age of 21, Thiem won his first ATP tour title in Nice on May 23, 2015. On June 6, 2016, the Lichtenwörther made it to the top ten for the first time after his first entry into the Roland Garros semifinals. He hasn’t even left this group since, proof of stability and consistency at a high level. In March 2019, Thiem also won the first Masters level title with the final victory over Roger Federer.
Break up with long-term coach Bresnik
A few weeks later, however, the breakup with Bresnik came after 17 years together. Little by little, touring coach Nicolas Massu, who signed up in February, became the head coach and just a few days before the French Open, after tough negotiations, came the separation from coach Bresnik. The coach / manager role has been split, the new manager is Herwig Straka.
“Hopefully it was the last big step in my career that will lead to great success. I did it because of that. Of course, some other things played a role as well, ”Thiem explained later. But he would always be grateful to Bresnik. “Günter took me as a kid who couldn’t play tennis to the top, which is unbelievable,” Thiem said.
With Massu, he progressed the development from a clay court specialist to an all-rounder. In 2019 alone, Thiem won three of his five hard court tournaments. Plus, he finally made his breakthrough in front of his own audience last year: titles in Kitzbühel and Vienna; no Austrian had ever done it before, especially not in the same year. “Of course, my hard court game has improved a lot since working with Nico,” Thiem said at the victory press conference in Flushing Meadows.
“Experimenting” with patterns fails
After his most successful year to date, Thiem brought on Thomas Muster as a consultant for 20 weeks in early 2020 with the help of Straka. But this “experiment” went wrong, and Thiem took a considerable step: because the characters did not harmonize as Thiem had imagined, he parted ways with the Styrian during the Australian Open after the second round. And then he only lost in the final in Melbourne after a 2-1 lead against Novak Djokovic.
The New York title opens the US market
For Lower Austria, which is also popular on the ATP circuit for its modesty, good manners and friendliness, encounters with the sport’s legends like Federer, Rafael Nadal and Djokovic are normal. It has long been not only recognized, but also feared in the field. Thiem has beaten all sizes several times. In the last twelve months alone, Thiem has a 7-2 record against the “big three”.
With the title in New York, the US market has opened up for the now 17-time tournament winner. “Where he did it, how he did it, how the game was, is of course a great story, and in marketing you have to tell stories, and it definitely helps,” says manager Straka, who is in the final. New York called “epic” and “one in the history books”.
“He can become more”
One shortcoming was perhaps the planning of the tournament, of which Thiem was sometimes a victim. But together with neo-managers Straka and Massu, he adjusted them. In any case, Straka sees great potential, as he already revealed to the APA in Paris in May of the previous year. “I think he can become more than just the new Andy Murray. He can become the new Nadal, Federer, Djokovic of the new generation who is ten years younger, ”said Straka.
If Thiem stays healthy then he can become a true superstar, for many tennis fans around the world he already is. He hits his backhand with one hand like a picture book, his forehand reaches turning speeds that even exceed Nadal’s, and his kick serve is also feared. “I really believe that 2020 can be even better for me,” Thiem had already announced in London. And in the year of the coronavirus crisis, it has finally shown it impressively in New York.
