“I’ve Beaten All Three” – Dominic Thiem on Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic

Published 11/11/2019, 1:23 PM EST

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World Number five, Dominic Thiem spoke about the differences between his game and the Goliaths of tennis. Despite defeating Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic on the eminent surfaces of the sport, the Austrian feels there are voids in his game.

“The biggest difference between myself and Federer, Nadal and Djokovic is the consistency. I’ve beaten all three, even in big tournaments, but the three make fewer mistakes in matches. No matter on which surface, no matter what the tournament is,  that’s the only one difference, but a big one,” Thiem said.

The Austrian has won five titles in 2019 and despite his achievements, he feels there are ample areas where he needs to look into and improve upon. He expounded upon the five-set taxing match against Novak Djokovic at the semi-finals of Roland Garros 2019. The match took two sessions to complete and some brilliant tennis was exhibited from Dominic Thiem.

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However, after snapping the 26-match Grand Slam match winning streak of the Serbian and halting the ‘Rafole’ French Open 2019 final, the 26-year-old fell to the unprecedented clay-courter, Rafael Nadal in the clay major finals.

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After getting past one of the ‘Big Three’ players, Dominic Thiem was destined to meet another one at Grand Slam final in less than 24 hours of time. The Austrian wasn’t really recovered from his semifinal match’s fatigue but he had to present himself on Court Philippe Chatrier for the esteemed tennis match on clay. 

“You get nothing from them. Nothing at all. I had to play five hours at the high-level tennis against Djokovic in Paris in the semi-finals to beat him. And if you can do that, then the next player from the Big Three will be waiting for you. This is brutal and makes it even harder for the young players to win a Grand Slam tournament,” Thiem added.

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On Monday, Thiem held his third straight victory in 2019 against Roger Federer in the opening match at ATP World Tour Finals 2019. The fifth seed, Thiem played solid tennis to beat Federer in straight sets and exploited Federer’s poor control on his second serves. Up next, he will play Novak Djokovic on London’s O2 Arena.

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Mahalakshmi Murali

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Mahalakshmi Murali joined EssentiallySports in 2018 as a tennis author and has gone on to pen more than 1800 engaging articles, probing into various aspects of the sport and its illustrious players. With her expertise on the sport, Mahalakshmi has interviewed stalwarts from the sport such as Serena WIlliams’ coach Patrick Mouratoglou and Kevin Anderson’s physio, Carlos Costa. Equipped with her vast experience and a keen understanding of the sport, Mahalakshmi now co-heads the tennis department.
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