Speaking on a Sports Illustrated podcast after his triumph, Dominic Thiem revealed the full extent of the jitters he experienced in the final. Thiem also shed light on his outlook towards the fourth Major final of his career after having lost the previous three, and how much the final step meant to him.
“Way too tight, my arms were heavy” - Dominic Thiem on his nerves during the final
Dominic Thiem found himself in a hole at the beginning of the final, as his opponent and first-time Major finalist Alexander Zverev played some assertive tennis to win the first two sets. Thiem looked sluggish and even a bit injured for much of the match, but the Austrian explained that his problems were entirely mental.
The 27-year-old even had to pray for Zverev’s level to drop as the match went on, because he himself was incapable of making much of an impression on the proceedings early on.
The 2020 US Open champion also felt that playing in a stadium without spectators made the situation doubly difficult, as there was nobody to give him ’energy'.
I had to win a Major to be satisfied with my career: Dominic Thiem
The World No. 3 was not in his comfort zone during the match against Zverev despite the fact that he had played a Slam final before. In the immediate aftermath of his win Dominic Thiem had claimed that it was a disadvantage for him that he had played in three Major finals earlier, and he reinforced that idea in the SI podcast.
In particular, Thiem mentioned how gutted he felt after losing the third final to Novak Djokovic at the 2020 Australian Open, and how the memory of that experience was weighing on his mind.
With World No. 1 Novak Djokovic’s controversial exit from the tournament also playing into the narrative, the pressure on Dominic Thiem got to borderline unmanageable levels.
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