THIEM ASSURED THE CRAIC WILL BE 90s...
ONE certain outcome in tonight’s US Open final is that men’s tennis will have its first new Grand Slam champion in six years, and the first born in the 1990s.
And Dominic Thiem knows the man to go to should he fail in his latest attempt to become a Grand Slam champion at Flushing Meadows.
When he meets Alex Zverev it will be the fourth time of asking and defeat would put him on a par with a certain Scottish player.
‘If I win I have my first. If not, I have to call Andy Murray [to see] how it is with 0-4,’ said the 27-yearold Austrian after he had beaten Daniil Medvedev 6-2, 7-6, 7-6. ‘If I don’t do it, it’s getting in the head probably soon. But I’ll try everything to avoid that, of course.’
It was eight years ago in the same Arthur Ashe Stadium that Murray famously won his first major in his fifth final. Unlike Thiem, Murray was second favourite to do it when he beat Novak Djokovic. This will be Zverev’s first championship match
at a major and he will be hoping to rise to the occasion as he did when winning the ATP Finals at London’s O2 Arena in 2018.
Good friends, both Thiem and Zverev have been the subject of Covid controversies this summer, having attended Djokovic’s Adria Tour. Thiem carried on playing afterwards and opted to take repeated tests rather than selfisolating. Zverev was filmed soon afterwards carousing at a restaurant on the Cote d’Azur.
Thiem, with a single-handed backhand that has become increasingly refined, has looked the man most likely to fulfil that role for two years now. Medvedev’s observations on him were notable after a punchy semi-final which saw him fail to serve out the second and third sets. He elevated the Austrian to the plane of Djokovic, Federer and Nadal.
‘He played like a real champion,’ Medvedev said of Thiem. ‘That’s actually the stress of the Big Three.
‘No matter which day you play them, it seems like they play the same level. Myself or Dominic, we can have these bad days where, maybe you can say I’m going to play to the backhand of Dominic and get some chances. But not during this US Open or Australian Open [where he also made the final this year]. Everything is there.’
Thiem was troubled by his footwear and heel in the semi-final, but played that down afterwards. His 72 record over Zverev is significant but, at four years his opponent’s senior, the pressure is greater. Among those watching from afar will be Rafael Nadal and Djokovic, both due to resume playing at this week’s rescheduled Italian Open in Rome.
In last night’s US women’s final Naomi Osaka was due to face Victoria Azarenka.