Okay, so it’s all over now. By far, the strangest Grand Slam tennis tournament that surely the vast majority of us have ever witnessed is not in the history books, and we have our champions for both women and men.
On the women’s side, the champion is someone familiar: Naomi Osaka. She is a former number one ranked woman who first won the US Open two years ago. As you may recall, that one also was under bizarre circumstances, as sadly, her win was at least somewhat overshadowed by the behavior of Serena Williams, the woman whom she had defeated in the final match itself. This time, Osaka’s victory in the final match was not overshadowed by anyone else, although because of Covid-19, it still happened with the backdrop of events much larger than the US Open itself. Of course, that was beyond anyone’s control.
This is Osaka’s third overall Grand Slam title, and she has now won two of the last three US Open single’s titles. She also won the Australian Open in 2019. It was after winning that Australian Open that Osaka reached the number one ranking. This weekend, she faced two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka, who seemed to be dominating the match early, easily taking the first set, 6-1. But Osaka battled back, overcoming the early deficit to ultimately win this year’s title, 1–6, 6–3, 6–3.
As for the men’s side, it was probably even stranger than the women’s. For the first time in a very, very long time, none of the “Big Three” was in this Grand Slam final. Or in the semi-finals, or even the quarterfinals. In part, this was because of Covid-19, which contributed to the defending champion, Rafael Nadal, skipping out on the event. But Roger Federer also could not be here, because he is recovering from an injury. Finally, the number one ranked man in the world, and the favorite to take the title, Novak Djokovic, wound up being disqualified after a bizarre incident when he contemptuously hit the ball after losing a service game. The ball he struck ultimately wound up hitting one of the line judges in the throat, which resulted in Djokovic being disqualified from the match and the entire tournament, losing all of his prize money and points earned from his earlier wins.
That opened the men’s field up considerably, and it wound up being two of the top-ranked men who met in the final on Sunday. Austrian Dominic Thiem, a man who was often considered heir apparent to Rafael Nadal for clay court supremacy, and German Alexander Zverev. Both men had been knocking on the door of entering the very elite in men’s tennis, but to this point, had been denied due to the historic dominance of the “Big Three.”
Dominic Thiem, 27, had reached three previous Grand Slam finals, having qualified for the last two French Open Men’s Finals, where he ultimately fell short against Clay Court King Rafael Nadal. He also lost to Djokovic after reaching the men’s final at this year’s Australian Open. Thiem was looking to finally win a Grand Slam title, however. As for Alexander Zverev, 23, this was the first time that he broke through to qualify for a Grand Slam final, despite having established himself as among the very elites on the men’s side.
Zverev looked incredible early on, racing off to a hot start and taking the first two sets, 6-2, 6-4.
Thiem, however, came roaring back, finally finding his best game just in the nick of time, and saving this rare opportunity. He became the first man in 71 years to overcome a two sets to none deficit in the US Open Men’s Final to ultimately win, 2–6, 4–6, 6–4, 6–3, 7–6 (8–6). No man had overcome that kind of a deficit in the US Open Final since 1949, so it was a particularly dramatic way for Thiem to finally capture his first career Grand Slam title.
This was also the first Grand Slam men’s championship not won by one of the “Big Three” since 2016. In addition, Thiem becomes only the second man to break through (Marin Čilić in 2014 and Juan Del Potro in 2009) and win a Grand Slam championship other than one of the “Big Three,” Andy Murray, or Stan Wawrinka, since all the way back in 2005, when Marat Safin won the 2005 Australian Open title. Murray and Wawrinka each have won three Grand Slam titles, while the lion’s share of the titles were split between the “Big Three.”
Now, the question is whether Thiem can continue this level of success, and break through to win a Grand Slam title while the “Big Three” are not prevented from so doing by unusual circumstances, like this one. While Osaka has broken through before, and even reached the top ranking, Thiem could truly legitimize this title by winning at the French Open, which begins later this month, and will surely feature at least two of the “Big Three,” including Nadal, the man who has tormented Thiem, who is probably the best clay court player other than Nadal himself, who is considered the greatest clay court player of all time.
At the very least, though, nobody can claim that Thiem has never won a Grand Slam title anymore. He did it on Sunday, and overcame more than just past failures, but coming back from an enormous deficit, in order to do so.
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