Tennis
ANALYSIS: WIN IN ‘CRUEL’ US OPEN FINAL SHOWS THIEM’S PROMISE
By HOWARD FENDRICH
Fifteen hours after Dominic Thiem collapsed on the court as the U.S. Open champion — his mind weary, his legs weak — he smiled when asked how he felt getting out of bed Monday.
“Well, I didn’t wake up today, because I didn’t sleep for one second. I was still full of emotions, full of adrenaline,” Thiem said from Arthur Ashe Stadium in a video interview with two reporters, his new trophy at arm’s reach. “We were sitting having dinner in the room until, like 4 (a.m.), and then just couldn’t fall asleep. But it’s fine.”
Of course it’s fine. After all, the 27-year-old from Austria went into Sunday 0-3 in Grand Slam finals and dealt with all of the doubts that came along with that record.
And now? He is the first new men’s Grand Slam champion in six years.
For all the talent and confidence someone like Thiem might possess, it takes actually doing something to know that it truly was possible.
He emerged to beat Alexander Zverev 2-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (6) on Sunday night in the first U.S. Open final decided by a fifth-set tiebreaker. The victory also came via the first comeback from a two-set deficit in the tournament’s final since 1949.
“A cruel match,” Thiem called it. “A big drama.”
Consider the other side of the net, for a moment: Zverev was up by two sets and a break, and he let that entire lead get away.
Then he went ahead 5-3 in the fifth and served for the championship. That slipped through his grasp, too.
“I was a few games away, maybe a few points away,” Zverev said. “I mean, I’m 23 years old. I don’t think it’s my last chance. I do believe that I will be a Grand Slam champion at some point.”
While it’s certainly not time to write off the Big Three just yet, Thiem’s victory at the U.S. Open showed him — and everyone else — that he is the guy who could be ready to emerge from the pack as more and more opportunities to win major trophies arise.
Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic had combined to win the 13 preceding Grand Slam tournaments (and 56 of the past 67), and while Federer is out for the season after two knee operations, the other two will be eager to start a new streak at the French Open, which is right around the corner.
That’s because while the hard courts of Flushing Meadows usually close the Grand Slam season, the clay courts of Roland Garros follow in this most unusual year. The French Open was postponed from May due to the coranvirus pandemic and is scheduled to start in Paris on Sept. 27 (and, unlike the U.S. Open, with fans allowed).
“For sure, Dominic needs to rest, to recover,” said his coach, Nicolas Massu, “then we start to practice again on clay.”
Thiem said he would fly to Vienna on Monday, give himself some time off until next weekend, then get on the red stuff to prepare for Roland Garros.
He figures what happened Sunday — well, over the past two weeks, really — will change how he views himself the next time he competes.
And, he hopes, forever.
The way Thiem sees it, he became a different person, a different player, on Sunday.
He finally was able to move past his heavy-on-the-mind setbacks in the finals of the 2018 and 2019 French Open against Nadal and the 2020 Australian Open against Djokovic.
“Every Grand Slam tournament was also a huge amount of pressure for me, especially when I started to lose the first final, then the second, then this pretty painful loss in Australia earlier this year. So the pressure got bigger and bigger, somehow,” Thiem said.
“And it’s all gone now, obviously, because no matter what happens from now on, I can always say that I’m a U.S. Open champion. That’s absolutely amazing to me,” he continued. “I hope it frees me up a little bit, that it relaxes me a little bit on court, and makes me better.”
-AP
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Howard Fendrich covers tennis for The Associated Press. Follow him on Twitter at https://twitter.com/HowardFendrich or write to him at hfendrich@ap.org
Novak Djokovic battled from a set down to clinch his 100th tour-level title by beating Polish sixth seed Hubert Hurkacz 5-7 7-6(2) 7-6(2) at the Geneva Open on Saturday.
The Serbian, who turned 38 on Thursday, becomes just the third man in the Open Era to win 100 ATP titles after American Jimmy Connors and Swiss Roger Federer.
“I had to work for it, that’s for sure. Hubi was probably closer to victory (in) the entire match than I was,” Djokovic said.
“I had some chances in the first set to break his serve, then had a bad game which ended up with the double fault on set point.
“I was just trying to hang in there, I don’t know how I broke his serve… but this is what happens at the highest level. Very few points decide the winner.
“Incredible match, 7-6 in the third with a full stadium, beautiful atmosphere. I’m just grateful to clinch the 100th here.”
Djokovic’s last title came when he won gold at the Paris Olympics last year.
The latest triumph comes at the perfect time as the record 24-times Grand Slam champion bids for a fourth crown at the French Open, which starts on Sunday.
Djokovic banged down six aces and 34 winners in the contest, which lasted a little over three hours and five minutes, making it the longest clash of this year’s tournament.
Hurkacz had squandered a 4-2 lead in the decider as Djokovic clawed his way back to clinch victory in the tiebreak with an ace and stretched his career win-loss record over the 28-year-old Pole to 8-0.
With the triumph, Djokovic is the first man to win a tour-level title in 20 consecutive seasons, with his first title coming at 2006 Amersfoort. He is also the oldest champion in Geneva Open history.
Djokovic, currently ranked world number six, will face unseeded American Mackenzie McDonald in the opening round at Roland Garros.
Reuters
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Novak Djokovic marked his 38th birthday in style on Thursday, defeating Matteo Arnaldi 6-4, 6-4 to reach the Geneva Open semi-finals and continue his pursuit of a 100th career title.
The 24-time Grand Slam champion avenged last month’s Madrid Open loss to the Italian and will next face Britain’s Cameron Norrie, who rallied to defeat Australian Alexei Popyrin 7-6 (8-6) 6-4.
“It’s great to be in the semi-finals again. Hopefully this year I can go at least a step further, that’s the goal,” said Djokovic, who lost to Tomas Machac in last year’s quarter-finals.
“I think I’m playing really good tennis. A straight-sets win, but it was much closer than the score indicates.”
After taking the first set, Djokovic trailed 4-1 in the second but stormed back with five consecutive games to seal the win in one hour and 40 minutes.
The former world No. 1 admitted that smashing his racket in frustration helped him reset mentally and close out the match in straight sets.
“After the racquet breaking I kind of found my optimal state and balance mentally and emotionally to be able to play my best tennis when it was most needed,” Djokovic, who was presented with a birthday cake on court, said.
Djokovic is bidding to become only the third man in history to win 100 ATP titles, after Jimmy Connors (109) and Roger Federer (103).
-Reuters
The Professional Tennis Players’ Association (PTPA) has filed a lawsuit against the sport’s governing bodies, accusing them of anti-competitive practices and a disregard for player welfare.
The PTPA, an independent players’ union co-founded by Novak Djokovic in 2019, said on March 18 that after years of good-faith efforts to reform professional tennis, it had been forced to take legal action to end “monopolistic control” of the sport.
In a statement, it said that along with more than a dozen players, the PTPA had filed papers in a New York court against the ATP Tour, the WTA Tour, the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA).
“Tennis is broken,” said Ahmad Nassar, executive director of the PTPA.
“Behind the glamorous veneer that the defendants promote, players are trapped in an unfair system that exploits their talent, suppresses their earnings, and jeopardises their health and safety.
“We have exhausted all options for reform through dialogue, and the governing bodies have left us no choice but to seek accountability through the courts. Fixing these systemic failures isn’t about disrupting tennis, it’s about saving it for the generations of players and fans to come.”
In response, the ATP accused the PTPA of choosing “division and distraction” and having no meaningful role in the sport.
“We strongly reject the premise of the PTPA’s claims, believe the case to be entirely without merit, and will vigorously defend our position,” it said in a statement.
“ATP remains committed to working in the best interests of the game – towards continued growth, financial stability, and the best possible future for players, tournaments, and fans.”
The WTA defended its record of growing women’s tennis, describing the lawsuit as “baseless”.
“Every decision taken at the WTA Board level includes the input of players via their elected Board representatives, and athletes receive substantial financial rewards and other benefits from participation in the WTA,” the organisation said.
The ITF, meanwhile, stressed its goal is to ensure the growth of tennis as a global sport.
“As a not-for-profit organisation and global guardian of the game… we reinvest 90 per cent of our income into the global development of the game, via our 213 member National Associations,” an ITF spokesperson said.
Describing the various governing bodies as a “cartel”, the PTPA, which has also begun legal action in Britain and the EU, accuses them of paying “artificially low compensation to professional tennis players” and imposing a “draconian” ranking system that forces them to compete in certain tournaments.
The lawsuit also calls the schedule unsustainable, says players are made to play in extreme heat and often in the early hours of the morning, that tennis balls chosen by the tournaments are a factor in chronic injuries and that players’ privacy rights are being abused by random drug tests.
Prior to filing the lawsuit, the PTPA said it met with more than 250 players across the tours, including the majority of the men’s and women’s top 20.
“The overwhelmingly positive player feedback was a resounding confirmation – change is needed now, and players are united in their fight for reform,” the statement added.
Serbia’s 24-time Grand Slam champion Djokovic has been a fierce advocate for change to the organisation of tennis, insisting that the revenues generated by the sport are not fairly shared out to players.
“Women and men who are around 200 and lower ranked in the world, they are struggling a lot,” he said in a CBS 60 Minutes interview in 2023.
“They can’t afford a coach, they can’t afford travels, they skip tournaments, many of them leave tennis who are super talented and maybe capable of reaching great heights.”
The ITIA, which manages the sport’s anti-doping and anti-corruption programmes, responded to the lawsuit by saying: “Any credible international sport requires robust anti-doping and anti-corruption programmes, and we are proud of our role in contributing to a clean and fair sport.”
-Reuters
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