Thiem became the first male player born in the 1990s to claim a Grand Slam singles title, as well as the first Austrian to win the US Open singles title.
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In September 2020, the stranglehold of the Big Three was finally broken. After 14 successive Grand Slam titles won by Federer, Nadal and Djokovic – and the previous 41 majors won by just six men – Dominic Thiem won the US Open 2020 to announce the arrival of a new generation. The 27-year-old Austrian entered at 0-3 in major finals, losing two French Open finals to Rafael Nadal and the Australian Open final to Novak Djokovic. It had appeared he would lose as the favorite to Zverev, the 23-year-old German also seeking his first career major title in his first Slam final. But Thiem hung around and hung around and ultimately prevailed over the fellow German Zverev, 2-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 7-6(6) to capture that elusive first Grand Slam title. It was the first time since Pancho Gonzales in 1949 that a man came back from two sets down to win the final.
Thiem became the first male player born in the 1990s to claim a Grand Slam singles title, as well as the first Austrian to win the US Open singles title. He is the second-highest ranked Austrian player in history, behind former world No. 1 Thomas Muster. He has won 17 ATP Tour singles titles.
Thiem was born in Wiener Neustadt, Austria on 3 September 1993 to Wolfgang and Karin Thiem, both of whom are tennis coaches. He has a younger brother, Moritz Thiem, who is also a professional tennis player. Thiem grew up in Lichtenwörth and began playing tennis when he was six years old. Thiem’s father, Wolfgang, began working as a coach at Günter Bresnik’s academy in Vienna in 1997, when Thiem was just three years old. Bresnik became Thiem’s coach formally from age nine. It was Bresnik who advised the change of Thiem’s two-handed backhand to a one-handed backhand when he was 12 years old. Bresnik has said that Thiem’s junior results took a dip for about a year while the stroke developed.
Thiem has some of the biggest groundstrokes of the tour, consistently hitting big with both his forehand and his single handed backhand. Generally thought of as a baseliner he has added more variety with the use of slice backhand and more netplay since adding coach Nicolás Massú to his team in March 2019.
He also goes by the name El Vampiro, Nicolas Massu started working with Dominic in March 2019. The 42-year-old Chilean was a former professional tennis player. He made history by becoming the first male competitor to ever win both the singles and doubles gold medals in the same Olympic competition. The ninth-best career ranking belongs to Nicolas. Approximately one month prior to the Indian Wells Masters, Nicolas began working out with the 28-year-old. After that, he succeeded in taking home his first Masters 1000 victory. El Vampiro also assisted Dominic in winning the Austrian Open Kitzbuhel and his third ATP championship. They continued on to the China Open in Asia. He won his fourth ATP championship and fifteenth career title in 2019.
Dominic achieved a career-high ranking of No. 3 globally the following year. After that, he defeated Alexander Zverev to win the US Open, becoming the champion. A major title had never been won by another player who was born in the 1990s. He did so first among male players. He then went on to achieve his first Grand Slam victory. For Nicolas and Dominic, 2021 was not exactly a smooth year. He battled knee and wrist injuries and had a lot of form issues. He made a remarkable comeback in 2022. He won the Swedish Open and the Salzburg Open.
