‘Tight and nervous’ Thiem tops No. 1 Djokovic at ATP Finals

LONDON — Instead of No. 1 Novak Djokovic vs. No. 2 Rafael Nadal for the ATP Finals trophy, it’ll be No. 3 Dominic Thiem against No. 4 Daniil Medvedev.

The No. 3-ranked Thiem ended Djokovic’s bid for a record-tying sixth ATP Finals title, coming through 7-5, 6-7 (10), 7-6 (5) after trailing 4-0 in the concluding tiebreaker.

Nadal had won 71 matches in a row when grabbing the opening set, and he served for the victory in Saturday’s semifinals when leading 5-4 in the second set. But Medvedev broke at love there and came all the way back to win 3-6, 7-6 (4), 6-3.

Thiem said he thought winning his first Grand Slam title at the U.S. Open would make him calmer in the tensest moments of the biggest matches. He realized in his ATP Finals showdown with Djokovic how wrong that notion was.

Still, after frittering away four match points in their semifinal Saturday because he was “tight and nervous” during a second-set tiebreaker, Thiem gathered himself. He eventually reeled off seven of the match’s last eight points to get to the final of the season-ending championship.

“What he did from 0-4 in the thirdset tiebreaker was just unreal,” said Djokovic, a 17-time Grand Slam champion. “I don’t think I played bad . ... He just crushed the ball and everything went in.”

When it ended with Djokovic sailing a forehand long, Thiem dropped his racket and covered his face with his hands.

Thiem could have closed things more than an hour earlier. But in the earlier tiebreaker, Thiem acknowledged, “I was mentally not that strong.”

His 300th career match win put him in the final of the season-ending tournament for the second straight year; he was the runner-up to Stefanos Tsitsipas in 2019.

Djokovic, already assured of finishing the year ranked No. 1 for a record-tying sixth time, was trying to match Roger Federer’s mark of six ATP Finals trophies.

Thiem faced three break points and saved them all, quite an achievement against supreme returner Djokovic.

Thiem became only the second man with at least five victories each against the Big Three of Djokovic (5-7 career mark), Federer (5-2) and Nadal (6-9). Andy Murray is the other.

“That is super special to me,” Thiem said. “Every single match against them is a huge privilege. It’s a huge opportunity to learn. If you beat these guys, it gives you a huge boost of confidence.”

Nadal seemed on his way to the final when he reeled off four consecutive games in the second set to give himself the chance to serve for the match. He surprisingly stumbled there.

Once he was back in the match, Medvedev took advantage, dominating the ensuing tiebreaker with the help of a shanked lob winner, a forehand winner that claimed a 26-stroke exchange and a leaping backhand that drew a netted forehand.

Nadal couldn’t shake that off, dropping the match’s last three games as he serve-and-volleyed more than usual, sliced his backhand more than usual and made forehand errors more than usual.

Medvedev had been 0-3 against Nadal, including a five-set loss in the 2019 U.S. Open final.

FRANK AUGSTEIN/ASSOCIATED PRESS Dominic Thiem celebrates after winning his semifinal match against Novak Djokovic at the ATP Finals in London on Saturday. The win made him only the second man to have at least five victories against the Big Three of Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.