Sweat to Success: Dominic Thiem clinches maiden US Open title

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Dominic Thiem
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September 13 saw the 140th US Open final at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York. Dominic Thiem, the 27 year old Austrian bagged his first US Open Championship and his first Grand Slam title, defeating Alexander Zverev of Germany.

Hard work pays off for Dominic Thiem

Dominic Thiem

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Dominic Thiem, the Austrian International was able to narrowly escape with the win after performing an amazing comeback being two sets down and 3-5 in the fifth set against Alexander Zverev.

Sweat to Success: Dominic Thiem clinches maiden US Open title - THE SPORTS ROOM

The four hours and one-minute long match ended 2-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 7-6(6) and the Austrian emerged victorious at the final.

Sunday night marked the night of many ‘firsts’. This edition of US Open final was the first one which witnessed fifth-set tie-break.

Dominic Thiem became the first player in the Open Era to make a comeback after trailing by two sets.

The Austrian’s win also made him the first Grand Slam Champion born in the 1990s, the 55th Grand Slam champion of the Open Era and the 150th of all time.

Following his win against the German, he fell on the ground, covering his face and it proves to be a surreal moment after series of rallies with the 23-year-old player.

In the post-match interview, he said, “I achieved a life goal, a dream [for] myself, which I had for many, many years. Of course [I had that dream] as a kid as well when I started to play tennis. But back then it was so far away.

The 27-year-old said, “At one point I realised that, ‘Wow, maybe one day I can really win one of the four biggest titles in tennis.’ I put a lot of work in. I dedicated basically my whole life until this point to win one of the four majors. Now I did it.”

Sweat to Success: Dominic Thiem clinches maiden US Open title - THE SPORTS ROOM

Meanwhile, this was Alexander Zverev’s first trip to Grand Slam final. He becomes youngest(23) finalist at a major championship after Novak Djokovic at US Open 2010.

Dominic Thiem reflected on his relationship with Alexander Zverev and said, ”We started to know each other back in 2014 and straight away started to develop a great friendship… and then a great rivalry.”

Dominic Thiem is the only Austrian to win a major Championship after Thomas Muster, who won 1995 Roland Garros.

Sweat to Success: Dominic Thiem clinches maiden US Open title - THE SPORTS ROOM

The 27-year-old surrendered the first match point after his short forehand strike hit the net making the score 6-5. However, he managed to hit a forehand passing shot to win his maiden Grand Slam title.

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