It all started in 1997 when little Dominic picked up a racket for the first time in Lichtenwörth under the expert supervision of his father Wolfgang at the tender age of less than four years. His dream: “To become one of the best players in the world!” After a number of notable results on the ITF Junior Tour from 2005, Thiem ventured into a junior Grand Slam tournament for the first time at the age of 16, ending up in the Paris Junior Tour. The 2010 competition came in round one. His trainer at the time was a certain Günter Bresnik, who recognized early on what a rough diamond he had taken under his proven wing.
At Wimbledon, Thiem’s childhood dream came true: he was allowed to train for an hour with his great idol Roger Federer – this event was of course arranged by Bresnik. Almost two months later, Thiem collected his first points for the ATP world rankings when he reached the round of 16 as a wildcard player at the Challenger in Kitzbühel.
Victory in the generational duel against patterns
Thiem’s first real bang came in the Paris Junior competition in 2011, when he made it to the final. The reward for this was a wild card for the ATP tournament in Kitzbühel; for the first time, Thiem was allowed to play among the big players – albeit unsuccessfully for the time being.
APA/Georg Hochmuth Thomas Muster congratulated his designated successor as Austria’s top player
The next highlight followed in October: Thiem achieved his first victory at ATP level, of all places in the Wiener Stadthalle against the 44-year-old Austrian tennis legend Thomas Muster. “I think the right person won,” said the Styrian, acknowledging the achievement of his heir to the throne. A victory that had more than symbolic meaning, as was confirmed shortly afterwards by Thiem’s triumph at the Orange Bowl, the most important youth tournament in the world.
Things continued in this vein: in 2012, Thiem won a Futures tournament for the first time, he reached the quarter-finals at the Challenger in Rennes, and he made it to the round of 16 at the Wiener Stadthalle. In 2013, Thiem reached the Kitzbühel quarter-finals for the first time and also secured two titles on the Challenger Tour. At the end of the year, the now 20-year-old was ranked 122nd in the ATP computer.
Breakthrough in 2014
Thiem cracked the top 100 for the first time in February 2014, which earned him his first call-up to the Austrian Davis Cup team. At the ATP event in Madrid, Thiem made people sit up and take notice once again when he eliminated number three seeded Swiss Stan Wawrinka. In Kitzbühel he even made it to the final, and at the US Open he reached the round of 16 of a Grand Slam for the first time.
In May 2015 the time had come: Thiem won his ATP premiere title at the clay court tournament in Nice. Further tournament victories in Umag and Gstaad followed. Things continued to rise steeply: at the beginning of 2016, Thiem triumphed in Buenos Aires, losing out to Rafael Nadal, the best clay court player in history, in the semi-finals and appearing in the top 15 for the first time. Tournament victories almost became the norm: Thiem received the winner’s checks in Acapulco (hardcourt), Nice (clay) and Stuttgart (grass) – his universally applicable game now bore fruit on all surfaces. No wonder that Thiem qualified for the ATP finals in London for the first time.
Reuters/Benoit Tessier Only Rafael Nadal was able to prevent Thiem’s first Grand Slam triumph in Paris 2018
Wins against the really big ones
Thiem’s path continued to rise steeply in 2017. Semi-final and final places were practically on the agenda, and superstars like Nadal and Novak Djokovic were also on the Lichtenwörther’s “hit list”. In 2018 he reached the mark of ten ATP titles and reached his first Grand Slam final in Paris.
The first title at a 1000 event followed in Indian Wells in 2019 with a final win against Federer, but in April there was an important change in the background: Instead of Bresnik, Nicolas Massu took over the care of Thiem – the biggest change to date immediate surroundings. The separation from the long-term coach stirred up a lot of dust and resonated for a long time.
But that didn’t change the fact that Thiem defeated Djokovic in Paris and was in the final again, where he lost to Nadal. He also achieved the “Austria double” by winning titles in Kitzbühel and Vienna – no player had ever achieved this before him.
AP/Cal Sport Media/Charles Baus Thiem won a Masters 1000 title for the first time in Indian Wells in 2019
Given these results, it goes without saying that Thiem was now a regular at the ATP Finals, and in 2019 he made it through the group phase for the first time. After successes over Djokovic, Federer and defending champion Alexander Zverev, the final stop was only against Stefanos Tsitsipas. Thiem, who won five tournaments this year, was now in fifth place in the world rankings, and the experts agreed: Thiem was now finally ready for the really big hit, his first title at a Grand Slam tournament.
Thiem writes red-white-red sports history
It almost worked at the beginning of 2020, but Djokovic proved to be even stronger in five sets in the Australian Open final. When the coronavirus pandemic gradually brought the world to a standstill in March, Thiem appeared to be in third place in the world rankings. It wasn’t until August that things continued in the tennis circus, and Thiem had a botched US Open dress rehearsal in Cincinnati and was eliminated in round two.
AP/Frank Franklin II At the summit: Thiem defeated Alexander Zverev in a memorable final and triumphed at the 2020 US Open
But the big moment for Thiem came in New York: On September 13th, the Austrian forced Zverev to win 7:6 in the fifth in a memorable final in the deserted Arthur Ashe Stadium after being 0-2 down in a set and 4:01 hours later Jump to your knees. The tiebreak ended at 8/6 after Thiem missed two match points at 6/4. “When the ball flew out, it was a huge relief,” Thiem said after the match, “all the emotions and all the pressure fell away from me.” What no one knew at the time: it would be the last of the man’s 17 title wins the incomparable one-armed backhand.
Lack of motivation and serious injury
After the Lower Austrian defeated superstars Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic on the way to the final at the ATP Finals in London at the end of the 2020 season, he only had to narrowly admit defeat to the Russian Daniil Medvedev in a high-class final. Thiem ended the year in third place and everything seemed set for an attack on number one the following year.
But in 2021, Thiem not only had to fight with his opponents on the tennis court, but also with himself. After the big coup at the US Open 2020, the top ten ace fell into a motivation hole with a little delay. While he was able to put local hero Nick Kyrgios in his place in a highly emotional duel in Melbourne, he only managed eight games in the next round against Grigor Dimitrow. The first round defeat at the French Open in Paris against the Spaniard Pablo Andujar after leading the set 2-0 was particularly bitter. The two-time Paris finalist was at times in a losing position against his established opponent, whom he would probably have dominated in normal form.
IMAGO/ThomasReiner.pro/Thomas Reiner Thiem’s suffering began with a serious injury to his right hand at the tournament in Mallorca
As a bonus, the most serious injury of his career followed in June at the grass tournament in Mallorca. The then 27-year-old suffered a wrist injury on his right batting arm, which forced him to take a nine-month break from tournaments. The separation from his long-time physiotherapist Alex Stober in September was also not without friction.
Tough comeback and fall back in the rankings
After 280 days, Thiem returned to the tennis tour in March 2022 at the ATP Challenger in Marbella with a defeat against Argentina’s Pedro Cachin. After a mixed spring, he fell out of the top 100 in the world rankings at the beginning of May after more than eight years. Apart from a few bright spots, there were no successes. Since there seemed to be no improvement in sight in 2023, the separation from Chilean long-term coach Massu took place in April.
Hope arose for the former world-class player in Kitzbühel, where he reached a final at ATP level for the first time since his US triumph in 2020. Thiem thrilled the audience at the tennis classic in Tyrol and only had to pay tribute to the exhausting 3:30 hour semi-final marathon in the final against Argentinian Sebastian Baez. However, he was unable to carry the momentum from the strong home tournament into the second half of the season.
This year, Thiem also suffered bitter setbacks on the Challenger Tour against opponents ranked above number 200 in the ATP computer. Until May, the 30-year-old had only won one match in an ATP main draw and, as ATP number 117, is now only a shadow of his former self. However, Thiem will be remembered as one of the best players this country has ever produced in a world sport. who defeated the best of the best on their favorite surfaces and became only the second Austrian to win an individual title at a Grand Slam tournament.
2024-05-10 10:05:15
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