It's been a breakthrough season for Dominic Thiem.

A tough-minded Thiem rallied past Alexander Zverev 2-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 7-6(6) in a gripping, grueling US Open final to capture his first career Grand Slam championship in the first US Open final decided in a fifth-set tiebreaker in September.

More: Thiem Edges Nadal in ATP Finals Thriller

Today, Thiem saved two set points topping Rafael Nadal 7-6(7), 7-6(4) in an ATP Finals round-robin match he called "definitely one of the better matches I have played so far in my career."

The 27-year-old Austrian has delivered the best tennis of his career in 2020 and believe his best is yet to come.

"I hope so," Thiem said when asked if he can lift his level even higher. "I think that I raised my level especially on hard court towards the end of last season when I started the Asian swing, and then I won Vienna. I played a great Finals here, and also Australian at the beginning of the year.

"So that's gives me feeling I raised my level. I was able to maintain it during the break of the tour, because obviously there was a lot of time for practice to work on things."



Working with two-time Olympic gold-medal champion Nicolas Massu, Thiem targets two areas he can improve on: his transition game and net play.

"Of course I still want to improve," Thiem said. "I still have a lot of stuff to improve, especially coming to the net and closing out the points better at the net, so that's my goal for the next preseason."

Photo credit: Mark Peterson/Corleve