Dominic Thiem
Dominic Thiem is an Austrian professional tennis player. His career-high ATP ranking is world No. 3, which he first achieved on 2 March 2020. He is the second highest-ranked Austrian player in history, behind Thomas Muster. He has won 16 ATP Tour singles titles, including a title at the 2019 BNP Paribas Open, and reached three Grand Slam finals.
As a junior, Thiem was ranked world No. 2. He qualified for the 2011 French Open Boys' final, and won the 2011 Orange Bowl. As a professional, he won his first ATP title at the 2015 Open de Nice Côte d'Azur in France. The next year he reached his first grand slam semifinals at the 2016 French Open, by doing so he for the first time rose into the top ten of the world rankings where he has since been a permanent fixture. Thiem won his first ATP Tour Masters 1000 title at the 2019 BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, beating Roger Federer in the final. Thiem reached the finals of the 2018 and 2019 French Open, losing to Rafael Nadal on both occasions, and the 2020 Australian Open, where he lost to Novak Djokovic.
Early life and background
Thiem was born in Wiener Neustadt, Austria on 3 September 1993 to Wolfgang and Karin Thiem, both of whom are tennis coaches. He has a younger brother, Moritz Thiem, who is also a professional tennis player. Thiem grew up in Lichtenwörth and began playing tennis when he was six years old.Thiem's father, Wolfgang, began working as a coach at Günter Bresnik's academy in Vienna in 1997, when Thiem was just three years old. Bresnik became Thiem's coach formally from age nine.
Junior career
Thiem reached an ITF Junior ranking of world No. 2 on 3 January 2011.He reached the final of the 2011 French Open Boys' event by defeating Kyle Edmund, Michell Kruger, Filip Horanský, Oriol Roca Batalla and Mate Delić before losing a close final to Bjorn Fratangelo, in three sets.
Thiem completed his junior career by winning his last three singles tournaments, culminating in taking the singles title at the Dunlop Orange Bowl tournament in Plantation, Florida, United States. Thiem finished his junior career with a 115–33 win-loss record in singles and 49–32 win-loss record in doubles.
Career
2011–13
In 2011, Thiem received wild cards to the main draw of Kitzbühel, Bangkok and Vienna. In Vienna, Thiem recorded his first ATP win, over Thomas Muster, before losing to Steve Darcis in the second round.In 2013, Thiem received a wild card to the main draw in Kitzbühel, where he made it through to the quarterfinals by defeating the fourth seed Jürgen Melzer in the second round. He lost in the quarterfinals to Albert Montañés in straight sets. Thiem reached his second quarterfinal of the year of an ATP 250 event at the Erste Bank Open. He was given a wild card, but lost to the top seed, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, in three tough sets.
2014: First ATP final
Thiem started the year at the Qatar Open by qualifying for a place in the main draw, but lost to Peter Gojowczyk in the first round. At the Australian Open, Thiem went through qualifying to get a place in the main draw. He defeated João Sousa in four sets for his first main-draw victory at a Grand Slam tournament. He then lost to 19th seed Kevin Anderson in straight sets in the second round. In February Thiem qualified for the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament, and in the second round of the main draw, he pushed Andy Murray to three sets, winning the second, but losing out in the third. At the BNP Paribas Open Thiem qualified for the main draw and defeated American Daniel Kosakowski in the first round at his first Masters 1000. He recorded his highest ranked win to date in the second round against the 21st seed and former world No. 6, Gilles Simon, in straight sets. He lost in the next round to Julien Benneteau. The next week he succeeded in qualifying for the main draw at the Sony Open Tennis and defeated Lukáš Rosol in the first round but lost to the 16th seed, Tommy Robredo, in the second round in a tight two setter. Thiem received a wild-card for the main draw of the Monte-Carlo Masters. But he was defeated in the first round by Nicolas Mahut in three sets. The next week he went through qualifying for the main draw at the Barcelona Open. He beat Radek Štěpánek and Marcel Granollers, before losing to Santiago Giraldo in the third round.At the Madrid Open, Thiem qualified for a main tour event for the seventh time in 2014. In the first round of the main draw, he beat Dmitry Tursunov to progress to the second round where he had the biggest win of his career when he defeated the world No. 3, Stan Wawrinka, in three sets. Thiem started his campaign at the French Open by beating Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu in straight sets. In the second round he faced world No. 1 and the defending champion, Rafael Nadal, but was defeated in straight sets, only winning seven games in the process. Thiem suffered consecutive first-round losses on grass at the Aegon Championships in London, to David Goffin, and at the 2014 Wimbledon Championships to Australian qualifier Luke Saville.
After Wimbledon, Thiem played at the International German Open where he beat Jiří Veselý in straight sets and eighth seed Marcel Granollers in three sets before being defeated by Leonardo Mayer in the third round. Thiem was seeded at an ATP tournament for the first time in his career at the Swiss Open Gstaad. Seeded eighth, he lost in the first round to wildcard Viktor Troicki. At the Austrian Open Kitzbühel Thiem was seeded fifth. In the quarterfinals he defeated defending champion Marcel Granollers in straight sets. In the semifinal he beat Juan Mónaco to reach his first ATP World Tour 250 final at the age of 20. In the final, he fell to David Goffin despite being a set up. Competing in his first ever US Open in 2014, Thiem reached the fourth round after two first round defeats in both Toronto and Cincinnati Masters. He defeated Slovakian Lukáš Lacko, 11th seed Ernests Gulbis, and 19th seed Feliciano López, before losing to sixth seed Tomáš Berdych. At the end of the 2014 season Thiem completed four weeks of mandatory national service with the Austrian military.
2015: Three ATP titles
Thiem lost in the first round of the Australian Open to Roberto Bautista Agut. At Rotterdam he beat Ernests Gulbis but fell to Sergiy Stakhovsky in the second round. At the Open 13 in Marseille, he defeated João Sousa and David Goffin to reach the quarterfinals, where he was beaten by Bautista Agut. The Austrian reached the quarterfinals at the Miami Open losing to Andy Murray in three sets. At the Rome Masters he won over Gilles Simon to reach the third round, where he was defeated by Stan Wawrinka. Thiem won his first career ATP World Tour title in Nice, France, defeating Nick Kyrgios, Ernests Gulbis and John Isner en route, winning a close three-setter against Argentina's Leonardo Mayer in the final. At the 2015 French Open, Thiem defeated Aljaž Bedene to progress to the second round, where he was defeated by 21st seed Pablo Cuevas in four close sets.Thiem entered the Aegon Open Nottingham as the seventh seed, he defeated Malek Jaziri to claim his first win on grass in 2015, but was knocked out in the third round by Alexandr Dolgopolov. Thiem competed at the third grand slam of the year, the Wimbledon Championships as the 32nd seed, marking the first time he had been seeded at a grand slam tournament. He defeated Israel's Dudi Sela in four sets, marking his first ever win at Wimbledon. In the second round, Thiem lost a close five-setter against Fernando Verdasco, despite being 2–1 up in sets. After Wimbledon, he participated at the 2015 Croatia Open Umag as the fourth seed, which gave him a bye into the second round. After wins over Dušan Lajović and compatriot Andreas Haider-Maurer, Thiem advanced to the semifinals, where he defeated Gaël Monfils and earned himself a place in his third career final. In the final, he defeated Portugal's João Sousa in straight sets to claim his second career ATP World Tour title. A week later Thiem won his third title at the Swiss Open Gstaad, beating David Goffin in the final, winning back to back tournaments for the first time.
Thiem next played at his home tournament, the Generali Open Kitzbühel, as the first seed which marked the first time he entered an ATP tournament as the top seeded player. After receiving a bye, he managed to avoid an early exit, as he gained a close three set win against Andreas Haider-Maurer. He defeated Albert Montañés in the quarterfinals, after Montañés retired five games into the second set. In the semifinals he was denied a place in his third consecutive final when he lost to German Philipp Kohlschreiber, which ended his winning streak of ten matches. After the tournament ended, Thiem entered the top 20 for the first time, reaching a new career high of world No. 18.
2016: First Grand Slam semifinal and top 10 ranking
Thiem started the year with a semifinal run in Brisbane on outdoor hard courts, beating James Duckworth, Denis Kudla and world No. 13 Marin Čilić, but losing to Roger Federer in straight sets.He then received a bye into the second round of the Sydney International, where he retired against Gilles Müller due to a recurring right foot blister. Thiem reached the third round of the Australian Open, his best run of the tournament yet. He beat Leonardo Mayer and Nicolás Almagro, but lost to world No. 16, David Goffin, in four sets. Thiem next competed at the Argentina Open, where he was seeded fifth. He beat Pablo Carreño, Gastão Elias, and Dušan Lajović. In the semifinals he upset top seed, world No. 5 and defending champion Rafael Nadal in three sets after saving another match point. Thiem went on to win his fourth ATP title by defeating Nicolás Almagro in three sets.
, 2016
His next tournament was the Rio Open. Thiem defeated Pablo Andújar and Diego Schwartzman to reach the quarterfinals. He defeated David Ferrer, his second top-ten win in two weeks. He was defeated by No. 71 Guido Pella in the semifinals, displaying visible signs of fatigue during the match. Thiem attained a career-high ranking of 15 on 22 February 2016, and was named the ATP's "Mover of the Week". In February, Thiem won the Mexican Open in Acapulco: his first hard court title, the four others having come on clay. He defeated Damir Džumhur, Dmitry Tursunov, Grigor Dimitrov, Sam Querrey and Bernard Tomic en route. This was his first ATP 500 title and second crown in the space of three weeks. With this win, Thiem once again attained a career-high ranking, this time of 14 on 29 February. He also rose to No. 3 in the Race to London. In early March, Thiem participated in Austria's Davis Cup Group I first-round tie versus Portugal on indoor hard courts. In singles, he defeated familiar foe Gastão Elias in a fifth set tiebreak. Partnering compatriot Alexander Peya, he also beat Elias and João Sousa in doubles in five sets. In reverse singles, Thiem took down Sousa in straight sets to give Austria an unassailable 3–1 lead, and the team went on to win the tie by four rubbers to one.
Next, Thiem competed at Indian Wells on outdoor hard courts. He defeated Jozef Kovalík, at which point he "notched a tour-leading 21st match win of the year", and Jack Sock, before falling to world No. 9, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. In late March, Thiem traveled to Miami, an outdoor hard court tournament. He defeated Sam Groth and Yoshihito Nishioka, before succumbing to world No. 1 and two-time defending champion Novak Djokovic in straight sets. Thiem held fifteen break points over the course of the match, but was only able to make good on one. Thiem then played at the Monte-Carlo Masters. He beat Jan-Lennard Struff and Taro Daniel in three sets apiece, before losing to a resurgent Rafael Nadal in straight sets. In late April, Thiem reached the ATP 250 final in Munich on outdoor clay after beating Santiago Giraldo, Ivan Dodig and Alexander Zverev. In the final, he played Philipp Kohlschreiber, saving two championship points in the decider but ultimately losing in three sets. Following the match, Thiem said: "It was very painful for me but Philipp was the better player today, and he deserves to win... I've won the last five finals ... now I've lost one. It's no tragedy, especially against Philipp.” Thiem lost in the first round of the ATP Madrid Masters before he competed in the Italian Open. He defeated Alexandr Dolgopolov and João Sousa in the first rounds. He next played Roger Federer, who was suffering from a back injury. He earned his fourth top 10 win by defeating him in straight sets. In the quarterfinals, Thiem lost to sixth seed Kei Nishikori in straight sets. In Nice, Thiem successfully defended his title, beating Alexander Zverev in the final. At the French Open, Thiem reached the semifinals of a major for the first time by defeating Íñigo Cervantes, Guillermo García-López, Alexander Zverev and Marcel Granollers before defeating David Goffin in the quarterfinals. He lost to No. 1 and eventual champion Novak Djokovic in the semifinals. By reaching this semifinal he also made his debut inside the top ten of ATP rankings as world No. 7.
In early June, Thiem competed at the 2016 MercedesCup as the third seed, defeating Sam Groth in the second round. He reached the semifinal of a grass tournament for the first time after coming from a set down against Mikhail Youzhny. Then he defeated first seed Roger Federer for the second time in a row surviving two match points. In the final, he defeated Philipp Kohlschreiber in three sets over the course of two days to win his first ever grass court tournament. With the win he became the 29th player in Open Era history to win three titles on three different surfaces in the same year. After the Mercedes Cup, Thiem competed at the Gerry Weber Open where he defeated in straight sets João Sousa and Teymuraz Gabashvili before meeting upon Philipp Kohlschreiber whom he surpassed via walkover. In the semifinal, he lost to Florian Mayer who eventually defeated Alexander Zverev in the final. At Wimbledon, Thiem encountered again Florian Mayer in the first round, but Thiem won in straight sets this time. In the second round, Thiem was defeated by Jiri Vesely in three straight tiebreak sets.
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Thiem then played at the Austrian Open Kitzbühel where he was defeated by Jürgen Melzer in the second round.
At the Rogers Cup in Toronto he met Kevin Anderson and had to retire after five games. At the US Open, Thiem battled past John Millman in five sets in the first round, and then had an easy victory against Ricardas Berankis in straight sets. Thiem then beat Pablo Carreño Busta to reach the fourth round, where he retired against Juan Martín del Potro because his right knee was bothering him. After the US Open, Thiem reached the final in Metz but lost in a close match against Lucas Pouille, which was Pouille's maiden ATP title. In the Asian swing, he was upset by Alexander Zverev in the first round of the China Open in three sets. He next played at the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris and was beaten heavily by American Jack Sock. This defeat took Thiem's opportunity to qualify for the ATP Finals out of his hands and extended his title drought. Thiem did qualify for the ATP Finals and scored a win against Gael Monfils, but was eliminated in the round robin. He ended the year ranked No. 8, just one place shy of his career-high ranking.
2017: First Masters-1000 final and world No. 4
Thiem began the year by playing at the Brisbane International, both in singles and doubles. He partnered with Kei Nishikori in doubles. He beat Sam Groth, but lost in the quarterfinals against eventual winner Grigor Dimitrov. Thiem then proceeded to play at the Apia International Sydney, as the top seed. Thiem overcame Gastao Elias but lost in the quarterfinals to tournament finalist Dan Evans. At the Australian Open, Thiem defeated Jan-Lennard Struff, Jordan Thompson, and Benoit Paire in the early rounds, but as in 2016 he lost to Goffin, this time in the fourth round. After defeat in his first match at the Sofia Open, where he was the top seed, to Nikoloz Basilashvili, Thiem headed to Rotterdam for the first ATP 500 event of the year, where he was the second seed. After defeating Alexander Zverev and Gilles Simon, Thiem was defeated in the quarterfinals by Pierre-Hugues Herbert. The following week, Thiem was again the second seed at an ATP 500 event, this time at the Rio Open. Thiem reached his first final of the year, with wins over Janko Tipsarević, Dušan Lajović, Diego Schwartzman, and Albert Ramos Viñolas. Thiem would take his first title since June, defeating Pablo Carreño Busta in the final. This was Thiem's eighth ATP World Tour title, his sixth on clay, and his second at the 500 level. After victory in Rio, Thiem played in his third consecutive ATP 500 event in as many weeks at the Mexican Open in Acapulco, where he was the defending champion. Seeded fourth, Thiem defeated France's Gilles Simon and Adrian Mannarino, beating both in straight sets, to reach the quarterfinals. Thiem's defence was ended by Sam Querrey, who eventually won the tournament.Thiem then headed to the BNP Paribas Open for the first Masters 1000 event of the year. Seeded eighth, Thiem comfortably worked his way through his first three matches, defeating Jeremy Chardy, Mischa Zverev and Gael Monfils without dropping a set. In the quarterfinals, he met Stan Wawrinka, but Thiem would miss out on a first Masters 1000 semifinal, losing a final set tie-breaker. After losing his opening round match in Miami to Borna Ćorić, and second round exit in Monte Carlo to David Goffin, he made his 12th ATP tour final, and second of the year, in Barcelona losing to Rafael Nadal in two sets. En route he scored his first win over a current world No. 1, beating Andy Murray in the semifinals in three sets. In May at the Madrid Open, Thiem defeated Jared Donaldson, Grigor Dimitrov, Borna Ćorić, and Pablo Cuevas to play against Rafael Nadal in his first Masters 1000 final. This was Thiem's second tournament in a row in a final against Nadal. Thiem lost but showed an improvement over his Barcelona Open scores against Nadal. As a result of this performance, Thiem ended the week ranked No. 3 in the singles Race to London. Thiem defeated Nadal in the quarterfinals of the Rome Masters 1000 tournament in two straight sets, before falling to Novak Djokovic in the semifinals. At the French Open, Thiem did not drop a set in getting past Bernard Tomic, Simone Bolelli, Steve Johnson, Horacio Zeballos and defending champion Novak Djokovic, before losing to eventual champion Rafael Nadal in straight sets. His win over Djokovic meant that he had now beaten each of the Big Four at least once.
At the beginning of the grass court season, Thiem reached the second round of the Halle Open, losing to Robin Haase. Then, in the second round of the Antalya Open, he was stunned by qualifier Ramkumar Ramanathan, then ranked 222 in the world. He made a comeback in Wimbledon, reaching the fourth round for the first time in his career. He was ousted by eventual semifinalist Tomáš Berdych. Thiem then participated in the Washington Open, where he lost narrowly to Kevin Anderson in the third round. At Montreal, he received a bye into the second round, but lost to Diego Schwartzman. He then reached the quarterfinals of Cincinnati, where he lost to David Ferrer in straight sets. At the US Open, Thiem made it to the fourth round. He began his fourth round match against Juan Martín del Potro cruising against his opponent, taking a two set lead. In the third set del Potro's form greatly increased and Thiem eventually lost in five sets, after failing to capitalise on two match points in the fourth set. For the second consecutive year Thiem qualified for the ATP Finals. Thiem again struggled with form following the US Open. After losing three straight matches in Chengdu, Tokyo and Shanghai against Guido Pella, Steve Johnson and Viktor Troicki respectively, he lost his second match in both Vienna and Paris to Richard Gasquet and Fernando Verdasco successively. Despite this poor run of form, prior to the ATP Finals Thiem broke into the top five in the rankings for the first time in his career, rising to world No. 4. During the round robin stage ATP Finals, Thiem defeated Pablo Carreño Busta in three sets, but lost to David Goffin and Grigor Dimitrov. He did not advance to the semifinals.
2018: First major final
In late December 2017, coach Galo Blanco was added to Thiem's team. Thiem began his season at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open as the top seed. He reached the semifinals where he withdrew from his match against Gaël Monfils due to illness. At the Australian Open, Dominic beat Guido Pella and Denis Kudla from two sets down. He won his third-round match over Adrian Mannarino, but lost in the fourth against Tennys Sandgren. This was equal to his result of the previous year at the Australian Open. Thiem's next tournament in mid-February 2018 saw him win his ninth ATP Tour title at the Argentina Open, his second in Buenos Aires, defeating Horacio Zeballos, Pella, Monfils, and Aljaž Bedene. This was his first title in nearly a year. In Indian Wells, he won his second round match against Stefanos Tsitsipas. In his third-round match against Pablo Cuevas, he rolled his ankle in winning the first set. He then lost the second set and retired in the third. He skipped Miami because of the hairline-fracture-ankle injury.Going into the clay season, Thiem played his first tournament in Monte Carlo, defeating Andrey Rublev and Novak Djokovic, before losing to Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals. In Barcelona, he again advanced to the quarterfinals, before falling in straight sets to Stefanos Tsitsipas, who then lost to Nadal in the final. Thiem's next tournament was in Madrid, where he would again face Nadal in the quarterfinals. This time, he came through to win, ending Nadal's 21-match and record 50-set winning streak on clay. Thiem had been the last man to take a set and win against Nadal on clay the previous year in Rome. Thiem then defeated Kevin Anderson in straight sets to reach his second consecutive final in the Spanish capital, where he lost to Alexander Zverev in straight sets. Thiem was the sixth seed at Rome, but lost his first match to Fabio Fognini in three sets. Thiem then played in Lyon, where he made it to the final beating Roberto Carballés Baena in straight sets, before coming a set down against Guillermo García López with the match lasting over two days. He then defeated Dušan Lajović on the same day before coming back from a set and a break down against Gilles Simon in the final to win his 10th ATP title. At the French Open, Thiem advanced past Ilya Ivashka in straight sets and Stefanos Tsitsipas and Matteo Berrettini in four sets. He faced Kei Nishikori in the fourth round, winning in four sets. In the quarterfinals, he faced second seed Alexander Zverev and defeated him in straight sets. In his third consecutive French Open semifinal, Thiem defeated unseeded Marco Cecchinato in straight sets to advance to his first Grand Slam final. He then lost in straight sets in the final to Rafael Nadal.
Thiem lost to Stefanos Tsitsipas in his first match at the Canadian Open, and was forced to withdraw from Cincinnati due to illness. His run of misfortune ended at the US Open, where he defeated Mirza Bašić, Steve Johnson, and Taylor Fritz to reach the fourth round for the third consecutive year. There, he faced 2017 finalist and fifth seed Kevin Anderson, defeating him in straight sets to reach his first Grand Slam quarterfinal on hard court, where he faced defending champion and top seed Nadal. This was their first ever meeting on a surface other than clay. In a shocking start to the match, Thiem won the first set, yielding only seven points to Nadal. This was the first set Thiem had ever won against Nadal at a Grand Slam tournament. Nadal took control and won the second and third sets despite Thiem serving for the third set. In the fourth set, Thiem was again up a break early, lost his lead, but won the set in a tiebreaker. In the fifth set Nadal won the tiebreaker to bring the match to an end at 2:04 AM local time, after 4 hours and 49 minutes of play. Later that month, Thiem followed up his US Open run with a title win at the St Petersburg Open. He defeated Jan-Lennard Struff, Daniil Medvedev, Roberto Bautista Agut, and Martin Kližan to secure his ninth ATP 250 title. At the Shanghai Masters, Thiem was upset by unseeded Matthew Ebden in his first match. Thiem was the top seed at the 2018 Erste Bank Open, advancing to the quarterfinals where he lost to Kei Nishikori. Then at the Paris Masters, Thiem was seeded sixth. He defeated Gilles Simon, 11th seed Borna Ćorić, and 16th seed and defending champion Jack Sock, before losing to eventual champion Karen Khachanov in the semifinals. At the 2018 ATP Finals, Thiem was eliminated in the group stage after winning one match, against Kei Nishikori, and losing his two others, against Kevin Anderson and Roger Federer. He ended the 2018 season ranked world No. 8.
2019: Masters-1000 title, major final, five titles, ATP Finals runner-up
Thiem started his season at the Qatar Open, but was upset in the first round by Pierre-Hugues Herbert. At the Australian Open, he defeated Benoît Paire in five sets before retiring to Alexei Popyrin in the second round. He failed to defend his title in Buenos Aires and was knocked out of the 2019 Rio Open by Laslo Đere in the round of 32. At the Indian Wells Masters, he defeated Ivo Karlovic, got a walkover through Gael Monfils, and beat Milos Raonic en route to the final, where he defeated Roger Federer in three sets to claim his first ATP Masters 1000 title. As a result, he returned to his career-best ranking of World No. 4. Nicolás Massú was a new addition to Thiem's coaching team a month before the Indian Wells tournament.After a slow start to the clay-court swing at the Rolex Monte Carlo Masters where he lost to eventual finalist Dušan Lajović in the third round, Thiem next went to Barcelona, where he captured his third career ATP 500 title. En route to the title, Thiem did not drop a set, including in his two set win over eleven-time champion Rafael Nadal in the semifinal, his fourth win on clay over the Spaniard. Thiem defeated Russian Daniil Medvedev in straight sets in the final. Just prior to the French Open Thiem parted with long time coach and manager Günter Bresnik, who he had been working with for 15 years. Thiem was seeded fourth at the French Open, defeating Tommy Paul, Alexander Bublik, Pablo Cuevas, 14th seed Gaël Monfils, and tenth seed Karen Khachanov to reach his fourth consecutive semifinal at the tournament. There, he faced world No. 1, Novak Djokovic, who had not lost a Grand Slam match in over a year, having won 26 consecutive matches. In a four-hour match stretching over two days, Thiem defeated Djokovic in five sets, advancing to his second major final. In the final, he again faced Rafael Nadal. After a competitive first two sets, during which time Thiem won the second set, Nadal steamed to victory, taking the third and fourth sets.
At Wimbledon, Thiem lost in the first round to Sam Querrey. Thiem played in Hamburg as the top seed, losing in the quarterfinals to Andrey Rublev. The following week he won the 14th title of his career in Kitzbühel defeating Albert Ramos Viñolas in straight sets in the final. At the US Open he lost to Thomas Fabbiano in the first round in four sets. At the China Open, Thiem defeated Andy Murray in straight sets to progress to the semifinals, where he defeated Karen Khachanov after being down a set and a break and coming back to win in three sets. With this win he qualified for the 2019 ATP Finals. In the final Thiem defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas to win his first title in Asia, fourth title in 2019 and 15th career title. At the Shanghai Masters Thiem reached the quarterfinals before being bested by Matteo Berrettini. For the first time in ten attempts, Thiem made past the quarterfinal stage at his home tournament in Vienna, beating Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Fernando Verdasco and Pablo Carreño Busta to do so. He then defeated Berrettini in the semifinals despite falling to him in Shanghai. In the final Thiem triumphed over friend Diego Schwartzman to claim the Vienna Open trophy for the first time, for his 16th career title.
At the ATP Finals, Thiem defeated Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic in consecutive matches, and became the first player to qualify for the semifinals. This was Thiem's first win over Djokovic on hard court. Thiem then defeated Alexander Zverev in straight sets to reach the finals, where he lost to Stefanos Tsitsipas in three tight sets.
2020: Australian Open finalist, top 3 ranking
Thiem began his 2020 season at the inaugural ATP Cup, where Austria was defeated in the group stage. He played three matches, defeating Diego Schwartzman but losing to Borna Ćorić and Hubert Hurkacz. Seeded fifth at the Australian Open, Thiem defeated Adrian Mannarino in straight sets, wildcard Alex Bolt in five sets, and 29th seed Taylor Fritz in four sets. He then defeated tenth seed Gaël Monfils to reach his first quarterfinal at the tournament. There, he faced top seed and 2019 finalist Rafael Nadal in just their second match on hard court. He defeated Nadal in four sets, winning three tiebreaks, proceeding to the semifinals. He then defeated seventh seed Alexander Zverev in four sets to make his first Grand Slam final on a hard court. In the final, Thiem lost to defending champion Novak Djokovic in five sets.On 2 March Thiem rose to a new career high ranking of world No. 3, passing Roger Federer in the ATP rankings. Thiem was one of many players to arrive early at Indian Wells to defend his 2019 title, where he also planned to play doubles with Grigor Dimitrov. However, due the coronavirus pandemic the 2020 Indian Wells Masters was postponed. Shortly afterward the ATP Tour was suspended for six weeks which was extended through to 13 July 2020.
In June, Thiem won the first leg of the Adria Tour exhibition event in Belgrade. His first opponent retired from the match, then he beat Dušan Lajović and Grigor Dimitrov in group stage to reach the final where he beat Filip Krajinović.
Playing style
Thiem is primarily an aggressive baseline player, who is adept at defending, as well. His groundstrokes are solid on both wings, with a heavy forehand and a tenacious, powerful single-handed backhand. He is one of the few younger ATP players to use a single-handed backhand. According to Thiem, he changed to his single-handed backhand at the advice of his coach. His backhand can effectively handle high bouncing balls, which has been a big problem for many conventional single-handers. Thiem often uses heavy, penetrating groundstrokes to construct points and outlast his opponents. He has a long take-back on both wings, and the top-spin he produces on his groundstrokes allows him to both attack and defend well. Thiem also possesses a strong serve, capable of reaching 145 mph.His deliberate, yet aggressive playing style, particularly the long take-back on his groundstrokes, ability to sustain long baseline rallies and top-spin serves have greatly benefited his clay game, where he has had the most success. The Roland Garros website described him as an "heir to the throne." He has beaten many high-ranked clay-court players on clay, recording four wins over Rafael Nadal on the surface. He defeated Nicolás Almagro and Nadal en route to his Argentina Open title, as well as Stan Wawrinka at the 2014 Madrid Open, Roger Federer at the 2016 Italian Open, and Novak Djokovic at the French Open both in 2017 and 2019. His mental game has also been praised, especially his tie-break win percentage.
Personal life
Thiem began dating fellow tennis player Kristina Mladenovic in 2017. They publicly confirmed their relationship in May 2018 but split in November 2019.Thiem is a big fan of football and is a Chelsea supporter. He founded his own football club called 1.TFC Matzendorf in 2016, which consists of friends and fellow tennis players who come together a few times a year to play charity games together. Thiem supports the environment, donating and raising awareness for 4ocean and the WWF. On ocean pollution he said "It's one of the biggest problems nowadays that we face, with all the plastic pollution. I love nature and I'm trying to support this whenever I can." Thiem was also part of his apparel sponsor adidas' 2019 Parley tennis collection campaign, the clothing of the collection being made from recycled plastic waste collected from beaches and coastlines with the aim to raise awareness and help tackle marine pollution.
Career statistics
Grand Slam singles performance timeline
Current through the 2020 Australian Open.| Tournament | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | SR | W–L | Win % |
| Australian Open | 2R | 1R | 3R | 4R | 4R | 2R | F | 0 / 7 | 16–7 | |
| French Open | 2R | 2R | SF | SF | F | F | 0 / 6 | 24–6 | ||
| Wimbledon | 1R | 2R | 2R | 4R | 1R | 1R | NH | 0 / 6 | 5–6 | |
| US Open | 4R | 3R | 4R | 4R | QF | 1R | 0 / 6 | 15–6 | ||
| Win–Loss | 5–4 | 4–4 | 11–4 | 14–4 | 13–4 | 7–4 | 6–1 | 0 / 25 | 60–25 |