Thiem breaks the ’90s barrier with first Slam
NEW YORK: Twenty years into the new millennium, it took a pandemic, an injury, and a disqualification, for a person born in the 1990s to win a Grand Slam title when Dominic Thiem etched his name on a men’s singles Grand trophy on Sunday.
His win ended a long wait for a new Grand Slam champion outside the sport’s “Big Three” after he beat Alexander Zverev in a gruelling five-setter that lasted a little over four hours.
Rafael Nadal, who sat out as he did not want to travel due to Covid-19, had denied Thiem the French Open trophy in the previous two editions of that tournament, while at the start of 2020 it was Novak Djokovic who outlasted the Austrian in the Australian Open title clash.
Thiem did not have to go through Djokovic, Nadal or Roger Federer at Flushing Meadows this year after Djokovic was disqualified for a swipe at the ball that hit a linesperson, and Federer missed the tournament due to injury.
But the win was still hard fought: the 27-year-old wrestled with long-time friend Zverev, 23, losing the first two sets to become the first comeback champion at the US Open since 1949.