Dominic Thiem is the best tennis player in the world who isn’t named Djokovic, Nadal, or Federer. This may feel like damning with faint praise, but in the last 15 years, this has become quite the accolade.
Dominic Thiem in 2019
Until 2019 the majority of tennis fans would have described Thiem as a clay-court specialist. Whilst he maintained his excellent clay-court record the Austrian showed definite improvement across the hard-court seasons too.
Another Roland-Garros Final But Disappointment Elsewhere
Of course, if one was just to assess Dominic Thiem’s season purely in the Grand Slams then all of the stereotypes about the Austrian are true. He only excelled on the clay of Paris and failed dismally on the grass and hard-courts.
The run to the Roland-Garros final confirmed Thiem’s quality on slower surfaces. He cruised through the draw until the semifinals. The public were then treated to the only high-quality competitive match in the whole tournament as Thiem defeated Novak Djokovic in five pulsating sets. Perhaps it was the vigour of that semifinal, or simply that Rafael Nadal at Roland-Garros is far too good, but Thiem succumbed meekly to the great Spaniard in the final.
Meek exits were a theme for Thiem in the other Slams too. For someone who would go on to star in the ATP Finals on a quick surface, it is a bit of a mystery why his Grand Slam record on hard is so poor. Surely this must improve in 2020.
Maiden Masters Triumph
The improvement in Thiem’s all-round game was most in evidence as he broke his Masters 1000 Series duck by winning the prestigious Indian Wells title.
A big outsider at the beginning of the week, Thiem managed to move through the draw without difficulty until meeting Milos Raonic in the semifinals. As would’ve been expected this became a massive serving battle but a clutch tiebreak win in the second set and a solitary break in the third was enough to see Thiem into his third Masters final, but first on a surface other than clay.
Roger Federer was the opponent and overwhelming favourite for the title. This seemed to be confirmed as the Swiss took the opening set. However, Thiem was then able to unload his power hitting from the back of the court. The match became tight late in the final set but Thiem was able to get a crucial late break to win 7-5 and take 1000 rankings points to the ATP bank for the first time in his career.
There’s No Place Like Home
Thiem seems to take real pleasure in going back to Austria and playing events in front of his home crowd. After Wimbledon, when most top players were either resting or preparing on the hard courts for the US swing, Thiem went to Kitzbuhel to play a clay-court event at altitude.
It would be fair to say that Thiem has been criticised for his schedule in the past, and decisions such as these probably don’t help his preparation for Grand Slams. But Thiem clearly loves playing in his home country and he took a lot of pleasure in winning the title in Kitzbuhel.
Thiem went back to Austria later in the year and won in Vienna late in the season. This was a real battle in which he beat Fernando Verdasco, Matteo Berrettini and Diego Schwartzman in three sets.
The Austrian was also victorious on the clay of Barcelona, managing to defeat the King of Clay in Spain en route to that win. In fact, Thiem didn’t drop a set all week in a facile triumph.
Almost the ATP Finals Champion
Thiem was almost able to round off his very successful season with a remarkable triumph in the ATP Finals in London.
Having qualified for the knockouts after two sensational wins against Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, Thiem was then able to defeat Alexander Zverev to face off against young Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas in the final.
Despite winning the first set on a tiebreak the Austrian was not able to produce his power game at a high enough consistency and eventually, the better player won. Tsitsipas taking home the title 7-6 in the decider.
This run was enough to see Dominic Thiem confirm a year-end ranking of #4. His highest ever year-end ranking and one that sees him well placed to take advantage of some good draws in major tournaments in 2020.
