Djokovic battles back against Thiem to win Australian Open 2020

For a brief moment, Dominic Thiem appeared in control but a relentless Djokovic never gave up on his crown and gave him a fight to remember.

It was a hard fight for both players in Melbourne. The Australian Open final once again delivered. A 4 hour-long battle was relentless and ultimately it was Novak who emerged as the victor against Thiem, winning 6-4 4-6 2-6 6-3 6-4.

It was the Serbian who struck first. Dominic looked a bit nervous and he struggled immensely on his serve. After breaking him Djokovic continue playing well confirming his lead up until later in the set when he allowed Thiem a breakpoint. The Austrian conveyed it and we were tied. However, Theim couldn't completely compose himself which is why he lost it 6-4 in the end. A negative balance between winner and errors (12-16) proved key.

The second set was much better from the Austrian as he broke Novak early on. He maintained throughout the set before capitulating to give the Serbian at tie a 4-4. But unlike the first set Thiem was very composed managing to win yet another game. He was aided by the Serbian who committed two silly delays of game violations. He was furious at the umpired lashing out against him in the process. Read the full report here. An inspired Thiem closed out the set 6-4.

The 3rd set started out very badly for the Serbian. Still clearly upset and angry because of the previous one he committed error after error reaching 8 in only 3 games. He was totally out of rhythm and struggling with his serve. Rather quickly he was down 0-4. Thiem was executing the gameplan his coach highlighted the day before. And it was working because Thiem closed out the set 6-2.

The fourth set started out with both players playing good tennis and winning their service games. Thiem was slightly more confident in himself committing fever errors than Djokovic. That, however, shifted a bit in Novak's favour and the Serbian captured the second set 6-3. He took advantage of a terrible service game by Thiem to break the Austrian.

Decider set: all or nothing

Confidence is what Massu preached to Thiem entering this match and he played with it for the majority of the match. At the beginning of the final set he again played with it but unforced errors were his enemy. Such a one caused him to lose his serve giving Djokovic an early 3-1. They traded off some games before Djokovic arrived at 5-4. One game away, 4 points away from another Australian Open final. The king of Melbourne had no issues in the end. The final result was 6-4 4-6 2-6 6-3 6-4. Djokovic once again wins in Melbourne, a record-breaking 8th Australian Open trophy. Truly remarkable.

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