Dominic Thiem had no regrets—and no gas left in the tank—following his dramatic five-set loss to defending-champion Novak Djokovic in the Australian Open final.
Contesting his third major final, Thiem went up two sets to one only to see Djokovic dig in with defiance rallying for a 6-4, 4-6, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 triumph to improve to a perfect 8-0 in Melbourne finals and surpass rival Rafael Nadal to regain the world No. 1 ranking.
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Thiem, who toiled four hours, 10 minutes on court toppling Nadal in the quarterfinals then went three hours, 42 minutes edging Alexander Zverev in the semifinals, went down swinging in a physical four-hour loss to Djokovic that left him feeling completely spent.
"l think I've rarely felt physically that tired, especially now after all the tension's gone," Thiem told the media in Melbourne. "I played an unbelievable intense match against Rafa, such an intense match against Sascha in the semis. Today again I think almost over four hours. I think that was very demanding.
"Of course, I just feel a lot of emptiness right now. But, yeah, that's it. I know the feeling. I did after the last two in Paris. But, yeah, also already now I feel little bit of motivation to come back for the next Grand Slam. Well, if I have a little break, it's going to be bigger."
The fifth-seeded Austrian was bidding to become the second man to defeat Nadal and Djokovic at the same Slam and first since Stan Wawrinka did it at the 2014 Australian Open, but could not crack Djokovic's defense in the final set. Thiem has lost all three of his major finals—two Roland Garros setbacks to Nadal and his maiden Melbourne final—to champions undefeated in finals at those Slams.
Thiem said the demands of beating at least two of the Big 3 to master a major makes winning a Slam in this era so daunting.
"That's what I said: it's unique in sports history that the three best players by far are playing in the same era," Thiem said. "That's what makes it very, very difficult for other players to break through. As a different player than them, you have to beat at least two of them to win a big title. Well, almost all players failed to do that. That's what makes it so tough."
Photo credit: Mark Peterson/Corleve