The 2020 US Open winner was in the finals of the clay court major tournament in 2018 and 2019, where he was defeated by the 14-time record winner Rafael Nadal. After he was denied a wildcard on the farewell tour despite these performances, Thiem had to go to qualification, where he lost to world number 156 from Finland. There were again numerous fans on the Suzanne-Lenglen Court.
Thousands of spectators urged Thiem to equalize after a 1:3 deficit in the second set and a rain break, but in the end Virtanen had the better end. The 27-year-old used the third match point to advance. Afterwards, there was a lot of applause for Thiem, who sat smiling on the bench.
The 30-year-old spoke again to his fans, who gave him a standing ovation. “I have developed a great relationship with this tournament over the years and have had many great results here. This is the major tournament with my best results, I have enjoyed it every year. Thank you for the memories.” The organizers were grateful and responded to criticism of the wildcard decision by presenting a personal Roland Garros trophy. Thiem himself took his recent results in stride.
Full stands again
Thiem was already celebrated during and after his first round victory in front of full stands against the Italian-Argentinian Franco Agamenone, and his fans would have liked to see him continue in the competition. Virtanen was motivated from the start by the chance of a prestigious victory and also benefited from two double faults from Thiem on the way to 2-0 in a nine-minute game. He managed to get an immediate rebreak, Virtanen responded with a zero break and later the 4:1 and 5:2 before he broke Thiem again.
IMAGO/Shutterstock/Javier Garcia Thousands of fans said goodbye to Dominic Thiem on the Suzanne-Lenglen Court
The 22-year-old Scandinavian took more risks in the first set and carried the momentum from the success into the second round. He didn’t give up a point in his first two service games and only allowed Thiem to score a point during the break to make it 3-1. He reared up and managed to beat the world number 156. Another immediate rebreak, equalized to 3:3 and fended off another break ball from Virtanen before the score was 4:4.
When the game was interrupted for half an hour due to rain at 5:5, Thiem was ahead 30-0 as a receiver, but his opponent ultimately got through his service game. What followed was the last game played by Thiem at the French Open, it lasted 8:38 minutes. After a 40:15 lead, Thiem managed to fend off two match points, but an unforced error with the forehand brought the decision after a playing time of 1:43 hours.
2018 and 2019 in the final
Thiem was only defeated in the final by the Spaniard Rafael Nadal at the French Open in 2018 and 2019; in the previous two years, the former number three in the world rankings had made it to the semi-finals. Thiem is currently ranked 131st in the world rankings.
Thiem made his debut at Roland Garros in 2010 with an opening outing in the juniors. The following year, the 17-year-old made it to the junior final. The Lichtenwörther native celebrated his first victory in a main competition at the clay court classic in 2014 against the Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu; the following first match against Nadal was lost in round two with 2:6 2:6 3:6.
The then 22-year-old made his breakthrough in 2016 when he reached the semi-finals against the Belgian David Goffin, in which the top seed Novak Djokovic was one size too big. In 2017, seeded number seven, he took revenge on the Serb in the quarter-finals. In the semifinals it was a 3:6 4:6 0:6 against Nadal. In 2018 he lost in the title duel 4:6 3:6 2:6, in 2019 it was more even with a 3:6 7:5 1:6 1:6.
Reuters/Gonzalo Fuentes Superstar Nadal denied Thiem the title at Roland Garros twice
A 6:4 6:4 5:7 3:6 6:3 in the round of 16 against Frenchman Hugo Gaston in the 2020 edition, which was postponed to autumn due to the coronavirus, was Thiem’s last main competition victory at the French Open. Just a few weeks after his triumph at the US Open, he ended up in the quarterfinals against his Argentinian friend Diego Schwartzman. In the past three years, Thiem suffered opening defeats against Pablo Andujar (ESP), Hugo Dellien (BOL) and Pedro Cachin (ARG), before the Finn Otto Virtanen ended the French Open history of the soon-to-retire Thiem.
French Open in Paris
(France, Grand Slam tournament, 53.5 million euros, clay court)
Herren
Qualification, second round:
Filip Misolic (AUT) Ugo Blanchet (FRA) -:- -:-
Dennis Novak (AUT) Jesper De Jong (NED) -:- -:- Otto Virtanen (FIN)
Dominic Thiem (AUT) 6:2 7:5 First round:
Filip Misolic (AUT) Sho Shimabukuro (JPN) 6:3 6:2
Dennis Novak (AUT) Oriol Roca Batalla (ESP) 6:4 6:2
Dominic Thiem (AUT) Franco Agamenon (ITA) 3:6 6:3 6:2 Diego Schwartzman (ARG)
Luke Neumayer (AUT)
6:2 6:3
Daniel Rincon (ESP)
Yuri Rodionov (AUT)
2:6 7:5 6:2
Damen
Qualification, second round: Hailey Baptiste (USA)
Sinja Kraus (AUT) 6:0 4:6 6:3 First round:
Sinja Kraus (AUT) Elizabeth Mandlik (USA) 7:6 (8/6) 3:6 6:4
