WORLD number three, Dominic Thiem is basking in glory after celebrating one of the most remarkable victories in Grand Slam history. The Austrian second seed came from two sets down to win in five, becoming only the fifth person – and first outside the French Open – to achieve the feat. Even when trailing a break in the fifth set and his German opponent, Alexander Zverev was serving for the match, Thiem did not give in, forcing a tiebreaker and winning 8-6 in the deciding tiebreaker to win 2-6 4-6 6-4 6-3 7-6.

The match lasted four hours and one minute, and was the match of the tournament as Thiem won just three more points (162-159), whilst capitalising off Zverev’s second serve with a 48 per cent success rate to the German’s 41 per cent. Whilst the power of the German helped with 15 aces and 52 winners to Thiem’s eight and 43, the Austrian had less unforced errors (55-64) and less double faults (8-15).

The victory helped Thiem become the 55th Grand Slam champion of the Open era, and not only did he become the first player in US Open history to win from two sets down, but the match was the first US Open final to be decided by a fifth set tiebreak. Thiem said it was definitely mixed emotions post-match, knowing whilst he was celebrating a marvellous victory, his close friend was taking in the most disappointing defeat.

”We started to know each other back in 2014 and straight away started to develop a great friendship… and then a great rivalry,” Thiem said. “We’ve made great things happen on the court and off the court. It’s amazing how far our journey brought us to share this moment. I wish we could have two winners today. We both deserved it.”

Thiem also became only the second Austrian Grand Slam champion behind Thomas Muster and moved his record in Grand Slam finals to 1-3 after previous losses to Rafael Nadal (2018-19 French Opens) and Novak Djokovic (2020 Australian Open). Even towards the end of the match it looked like Zverev might hold on despite Thiem’s best efforts, crucially breaking in the eighth game of the final set to move to 5-3 and serve for the match.

Thiem held his nerve to get the match back on level pegging and then when it reached a tiebreaker, had his first match point at 6-5, but needed a second match point at 7-6 before he could celebrate with a missed Zverev backhand making the dream a reality as the match passed the four-hour mark. It was a heartbreaking loss for Zverev, but the 23-year-old became the youngest Grand Slam finalist since Novak Djokovic at the 2010 US Open and he praised his close mate for his work.

”I want to congratulate Dominic on the first of many Grand Slam titles. I wish you could have missed a little more so I could be holding that trophy up, but here I am giving the runner-up speech,” Zverev said. “I want to thank my team for sticking with me. “The past two years haven’t been easy in my tennis career. “We’re definitely on the way up and I hope that one day we’re going to lift that trophy up together.”

Both players have opted to forgo playing in Rome this year given the short turnaround with the tournament starting less than 24 hours after the completion of the massive US Open final. Instead, both will focus their attention on the next Grand Slam, Roland Garros in a couple of weeks where Thiem will hope to go one better than last year.