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The new US Open champion also etched his name in the record books by becoming the first player in the Open Era, which began in 1968, to come down two sets and win a final at Flushing Meadows.
With Federer and Nadal not traveling to New York, and Djokovic suffering an ignominious disqualification in the fourth round for hitting a linesman with a ball, a golden opportunity was presented to the remaining players of the tournament to become the first champion of Men’s Grand Slam in six. years.
Eventually, amid all the headlines about players who weren’t at the US Open, Thiem was the one who was able to keep his nerve.
“I can’t figure it out yet, but it is definitely the biggest goal in tennis that I achieved, to win a slam title,” he told CNN Sport’s Patrick Snell. “There is nothing better than that and all the hard work paid off and also all the hard work from my family, from my team.
“They made so many sacrifices. They drove hundreds of thousands of miles with the car to get me to practice and I think today was also the day that I gave back a lot.
“It’s a great day for me, but also for everyone who was involved basically from the beginning of my life to get to moments like this.”
Given the absence of the ‘Big Three’ in the later stages of this tournament, the younger generation of players, known as the ‘NextGen’, will continue to be asked questions until they start winning major tournaments on a regular basis.
However, Thiem says the absence of Federer, Nadal and Djokovic only exacerbated the pressure of winning a first grand slam, rather than easing it.
“None of us players talked about it,” said Thiem, the son of tennis coaches. “It was somewhere in our heads that the moment came, when Novak was out, because of course he increased the chances of the remaining eight players.
“But also, but it also put a lot of pressure on each of us because the chance of winning this title was a little bit higher than that of winning the title if the ‘Big Three’ are present.
“Everybody knew it and it wasn’t easy. Well the next hit [French Open] it’s right around the corner and two of the big three are there again, but I guess Sasha, myself and three or four other guys are almost with them from the level and it will be interesting how it develops. “
With 16 career titles to his name before the US Open and a career-high ranking of No. 3, Thiem was widely regarded as the NextGen star most likely to win a Grand Slam title.
The 27-year-old has reached two of his three Grand Slam finals since welcoming former pro Nicolas Massu, the only man in the modern era to win singles and doubles gold at the same Olympics, to his team. coaches at the start of the last. year and has enjoyed a great improvement in his game.
But after losses in all three, in the 2018 and 2019 French Open finals and the Australian Open final earlier this year, Thiem admits that doubts about whether he would ever win a Grand Slam began to surface in your mind.
“There are always doubts after each final, after each of these three finals are lost, there were doubts because I didn’t know if there was ever a chance to come back. [to another slam final] as the level in tennis is super high, “said Thiem, who made his debut on the ATP Tour in 2011.
“I mean, if you’re not at the top, you can lose to anyone in the draw and the same doubts were here before the game and also during the game: ‘What if it goes 0-4? What if I don’t take This chance? Will I ever get another chance?
“So there are always doubts and it’s a big, big relief that, well, these doubts are gone.”
