Dominic Thiem, of Austria, reacts after defeating Alexander Zverev, of Germany, in the men's singles final of the US Open tennis championships, Sunday, Sept. 13
In a Grand Slam event unlike any other, in every possible aspect, Dominic Thiem scripted a feat unlike any other. After losing the first two sets in the fan-less Arthur Ashe Stadium on Sunday, in a final where for the first time in his career was the overwhelming favourite, Thiem slowly mounted his comeback, captivating on Alexander Zverev's errors, to win 2-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (6), thus becoming the first man in 71 years to win a US Open final after losing the first two sets.
Thiem previously held a 0-3 record in Grand Slam finals having lost to Rafael Nadal in 2018 and 2019 French Open and to Novak Djokovic in the 2020 Australian Open final. On Sunday however, with none of the Big Three around, Thiem was the favourite against first-time finalist Zverev. Yet, the Austrian took off to a jittery start before working his way through the match to become fourth-time lucky to claim his maiden Grand Slam title.
Here are all the numbers from the 2020 US Open final...
1 Thiem becomes first Austrian to win the US Open title but the second from his country to win a major after Thomas Muster who won the 1995 French Open title. The closest Muster had reached in a US Open tournament was the quarters in 1993, 1994 and 1996.
6 Thiem becomes the first new Grand Slam winner in six years since Marin Cilic's 2014 victory at the US Open.
71 Thiem became the first tennis player in 71 years to win the US Open final after dropping the first two sets. The last player to achieve this feat in US Open was Pancho Gonzales in 1949. Overall, he is the fifth player in Open Era to win a major from two sets down after Bjorn Borg in 1974 French Open, Ivan Lendl in 1984 French Open, Andre Agassi in 1999 French Open and Gaudio in 2004 French Open.
150 Thiem became the 150th player to win a Grand Slam title and is the 55th Grand Slam champion during the Open Era which began in 1968.
1 Zverev becomes the first player in history to win a Grand Slam semifinal from 2 sets down and then lose final from 2 sets up. He had defeated Pablo Carreno Busta in the semis after going two sets down. It was the first time that he won a match from 2 sets down for 1st time in his career. On the other hand, in the final, Zverev, for the first time in his career, lost a match from 2 sets up.
4 The last four Grand Slam finals had all gone to the fifth set - 2020 Australian Open, 2019 US Open and 2019 Wimbledon. But this was the first US Open final to be decided by a 5th-set tiebreak.
8-2 Thiem improved his head-to-head tie against Zverev to 8-2 winning all their last four meetings. Zverev's only two victories had come in the Madrid Masters in 2018 and in China Open in 2016.
