"I was starting to doubt myself" says Thiem about lowest point of career

Dominic Thiem accomplished his dream of winning a Grand Slam but the road there was difficult and Thiem spoke about it.

At the start of 2020, Dominic Thiem reached his 3rd Grand Slam final at the Australian Open where he played against Novak Djokovic. It was his 3rd opportunity to play for a trophy that has been a lifelong dream of the Austrian. Thiem was up 2-1 in sets against Djokovic but the Serbian would come back to win 6-4, 4-6, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4. For Thiem, it was a low point saying:

“It was very, very difficult to digest because I was starting to doubt [myself] a little bit. And starting to imagine what I [would] think about my career if I never did it after having this great chance.”

Not long after the pandemic hit and Thiem got a lot of time to think about his game as play was suspended. He trained like a maniac and put all his energy into the North American swing. It started off rocky as he lost to Krajinovic in a match where he only won 3 games.

That result makes his run after that even more impressive. He bounced back in stellar fashion on the same courts but this time around the stakes were much higher under the US Open banner. He defeated Marin Cilic, Felix Auger-Aliassime, Alex De Minaur and Daniil Medvedev to reach another Grand Slam final.

Nothing about that fortnight was normal for Thiem as he explained:

“We were used to the packed stadium and then all of a sudden we lived the bubble life, we played in front of the empty stadium, especially in New York, it’s pretty tough."

Thiem was widely considered to be the favourite heading into the match but Thiem disagreed:

“I think everybody else declared me to be the favourite but me. I knew how good Sascha is and how difficult it is to play against him. The pressure was huge. I really thought this might be my final chance.”

He was down 2-0 in sets but he was able to fight back and win that match in an epic finish. It fulfilled a life-long dream for Theim and he hopes he can emulate what Stan Wawrinka did after winning his first major:

“[Wawrinka] had five amazing years where he was playing well in all the big tournaments, winning two more majors. And that’s my goal, that I can use the huge boost that the US Open gave [me].”