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Dominic Thiem with US Open trophy

Thiem makes history at US Open – Full list of achievements by tennis’ newest Grand Slam champion


Tennis has a new male Grand Slam champion in Dominic Thiem, and that is rare enough of an event these days to be celebrated.

However, if you were thinking the absence of the Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, as well as the freak disqualification of Novak Djokovic, somehow diminishes the Austrian’s achievement, you may want to think again.

Thiem was made to work incredibly hard to win the final against Alexander Zverev, and he has amassed an impressive array of accomplishments in New York, making him a true history-maker.

  • Thiem has become the first man in the Open Era to win he US Open final from two sets to love down.
  • He is just the fifth male player to win any Grand Slam after losing the first two sets in the final, with all the other four – Bjorn Borg, Ivan Lendl, Andre Agassi, and Gaston Gaudio – doing it at the French Open.
  • Alexander Zverev had never lost a match from 2-0 up.
  • Thiem is the first Austrian to win the US Open and just the second Austrian man – after Thomas Muster – to win any Grand Slam.
  • He is now the youngest male Grand Slam champion in the world at 27, and the first man born in the 1990s to win a major title.
  • Thiem has joined a small band of just eight active male Grand Slam champions. The other are – Roger Federer (20), Rafael Nadal (19), Novak Djokovic (17), Andy Murray (3), Stan Wawrinka (3), Marin Cilic (1), and Juan Martin del Potro (1).

Dominic Thiem also avoided joining just Andy Murray and Ivan Lendl on the list of players to lose their first four Grand Slam finals, although that would not exactly be bad company in which to find yourself.

He will now face a race against time to recover for the French Open, where he has been a defeated finalist in the last two years.


Michael Graham, Tennishead.net Editor, has been a professional sports journalist for his whole career and is especially passionate about tennis. He's been the Editor of Tennishead.net for over 5 years and loves watching live tennis by visiting as many tournaments as possible. Michael specialises in writing in-depth features about the ATP & WTA tours.