Dominic Thiem was once in the business of winning Grand Slam titles. Now he is–or at least is much closer to–the business of moral victories.
That’s why the 29-year-old can leave Wimbledon with his head held high, even though he exited in the first round with a loss to Stefanos Tsitsipas on Wednesday afternoon. Thiem went toe to toe with the No. 5 player in the world for the entirety of three hours and 56 minutes before falling 3-6, 7-6(1), 6-2, 6-7(5), 7-6(10-8).
“Obviously it was a great encounter, and to me, I’m leaving with heads up,” the 2020 U.S. Open champion said at his post-match press conference. “(It) kind of showed me that I’m still there. The quality was very, very good. The fighting spirit was really, really good.
“Yeah, this match showed me a lot of good things that I’m still here, still able to compete with the big boys of the game. Obviously it’s tough, but…well…(a) tiebreak in the fifth is like a penalty shootout. All credit to him as well how he played in the ‘breaker.”
Thiem had chances–one, especially–to win it before the ‘breaker. The point of the match came with Tsitsipas serving down 30-40 at 3-3 in the fifth, when the Greek answered a perfect backhand pass by his opponent with a lunging forehand volley winner.
“How he saved that break point in the fifth was just unbelievable,” Thiem praised.
Tsitsipas had opportunities of his own, too. The fifth seed brought up a match point with Thiem serving at 5-6, but the Austrian saved it with a perfect serve-forehand combination. Tsitsipas earned his second match point on his own serve at 9-7 in the tiebreaker, but that chance also went by the wayside. Finally, Tsitsipas got a look at a second serve at 9-8, Thiem did not do enough with a backhand approach shot, and Tsitsipas clinched victory with a clean forehand pass.
With the loss, Thiem is now 7-15 on the main tour in 2023. It has been more than two years since he suffered a wrist injury during the 2021 grass-court swing, but progress remains slow. He is barely inside the top 100 at No. 91 in the rankings and even on his favorite clay-court surface he was enduring early-round losses at the Challenger level this spring.
This first-round ouster was much, much different.
“Here I am, you know,” Thiem concluded, “losing 6-7 in the fifth, playing a very good match, fighting unbelievable. Yeah, it shows me that I’m here, that I’m able to do very good things still. (It) also motivates me for the upcoming weeks.”
As for Tsitsipas, his upcoming match–with zero days off–is against Andy Murray in the Wimbledon second round on Thursday evening.
great match