How Dominic Thiem powered back, despite everything, to win US Open

Dominic Thiem shocked the tennis world by coming back from two sets to love down for the 2020 US Open title. Here’s how he played exactly the right way to win the match.

It wasn’t the result that anyone expected. Dominic Thiem shocked the tennis world by storming back from two sets from love down to defeat Alexander Zverev in five sets (2-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 7-6(6) to win the 2020 US Open.

Zverev came into the match as a sizable underdog; he needed a comeback from two sets to love down in order to defeat Pablo Carreno Busta in the semifinals. Alternatively, Thiem dispatched 3rd-seeded Daniil Medvedev in straight sets and looked poised for his first Grand Slam title after failing on his previous three attempts.

The serving of Zverev was going to be one of the keys for him in order to have a shot against Thiem today, and he used it beautifully to his advantage in the first two sets, converting 86% of his first serves and only faced one break point. Thiem had absolutely zero answers on the return, despite standing in Brooklyn to return the ball.

Zverev also opened the match very effective from the baseline and on Thiem’s serve. Thiem has shown brilliantly throughout this week, and his career for that matter, that he has the ability to simply out-power every opponent he plays. However, that wasn’t the case to begin the day.

This might’ve been Zverev’s best performance from the baseline that he’s had in his career, despite the end result. He was able to fend off Thiem’s power extremely well for most of the match and more importantly, he was able to turn his defense into offense at will, especially in the beginning hour of the match.

He finished with 24 winners through two sets and game after game proved that he was on Thiem’s level. His rally ball was very deep and kept Thiem on his back foot, not allowing him to load up one of the fiery groundstrokes that had given him so much success.

Thiem’s slow start t the match certainly aided Zverev’s two set to love advantage. The most glaring wasn’t even on the return, as Zverev’s serve was just as effective as it has been all week (4 aces, 5 double faults through two sets). There isn’t much anyone can do when the opposing player is able to work the ball up to 130-135 mph.

The biggest mistake Thiem was making was his serve. It was incredibly flat throughout the first two sets (52%), and while he did eventually improve his percentages in set two, it wasn’t enough to get him out of a large hole.

Thiem’s placement on serve was also a huge strategic error. He repeatedly played his serve into Zverev’s forehand, which was a critical mistake as his forehand was his biggest weapon for the entire match. On his forehand, Zverev was able to immediately fire pace right back at Thiem in order to gain an immediate edge. While the serve is one of the key advantages for a player on the match, Thiem couldn’t take the opportunity well enough.

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While it was a fantastic match from Zverev, it wasn’t all perfect. His serve failed him at two very important moments in the third set. He was up a break 2-1 with the opportunity to distance himself from Thiem but was broken. The second error came down 4-5 in the third set while serving to stay in it. He suffered a bad double fault, plopped a backhand slice into the net, and pushed a forehand wide to lose the set.

From there, the match changed in favor of Thiem. His serve had started to pick up nicely and was beginning to win more rallies from the baseline ( a far cry from the disastrous first two sets). In the third and fourth sets, his first-serve percentage increased to 74% in the third and 45% in the fourth. However, that wasn’t even the largest improvement for him in those two sets. Where he truly improved was in his ability to win points on his serve.

Thiem won 62% of all of his service points in set three and increased that number to an absurd 91% in the fourth (both points lost were on his first serve). Zverev’s serving percentages dropped as he gradually took control of the baseline rallies. The big server lost control of his serve, only winning 56 and 59 percent of all points on his serve in sets three and four. This also led to the complete shift in break opportunities in favor of Thiem (only 3 chances for Zverev in these two sts compared to 8 for Thiem).

The fifth set was a complete slugfest. Both players desperately wanted to win this match and truly showed it. They began playing with more pace and their fiery emotions were finally made audible down the stretch. They went back and forth and played some truly spectacular tennis, running down balls and playing with beautiful touch at the net.

The ultimate decider in this match was at 4-3 in the final set. Zverev took advantage of Thiem with some spectacular defense, pushing Thiem into unforced errors at the ends of long rallies. It wasn’t over yet, however, as Thiem broke right back to put the match on serve at 4-5. At 30-all, Zverev was two pints from taking the match until Thiem unleashed two vicious down-the-line forehand winners to bring this match to 5-all (the first time a US Open final has reached 5-all in the fifth).

Thiem followed that up brilliantly to break Zverev once again but couldn’t convert on his serve, stretching the string of breaks to four consecutive games and more importantly, stretched the match into a fifth-set tiebreak. It’s only fitting.

Thiem prevailed on his third championship point and finally won his maiden Grand Slam title on his fourth attempt. He proved that his raw power would ultimately prevail despite his woes to begin the match. His brutal groundstrokes were the deciding factor. Zverev was controlling the baseline in the beginning of the match but the better baseliner finally showed up down the stretch when it counted.

For Zverev, there’s a ton to take from this match. He proved that he has the tools to compete but needs to develop a consistent serve to truly have a shot. In the final set, he won only 50% of his points on serve and ended the match with 15 double faults. At only 23 years old, he’ll certainly be back but will be kicking himself for not closing the deal today.

Dominic Thiem prevailed. In a match that was a make-or-break moment for his career, he proved that he is truly the next face of men’s tennis. Today wasn’t the day for Alexander Zverev, despite it all. He put up a valiant effort and will surely be back.

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