By Erik Gudris | Sunday, November 13, 2016
Novak Djokovic, after losing the first set, dropped only two games in beating Dominic Thiem at the ATP World Tour Finals.
Photo Credit: Rob Newel/CameraSport
Novak Djokovic, after losing a very close first set tiebreak to Dominic Thiem, smashed a ball in the direction of his coaching team. That emotional outburst sparked a winning comeback for the defending champion at the ATP World Tour Finals in London.
ATP Finals: By the Numbers
From there, Djokovic only dropped two games en route to closing out a three set victory.
“I thought we played on a high level,” Djokovic said right after. “He was serving very well and it was definitely not easy.”
Emotions were expected to run high for Djokovic as he entered this year’s season-ending event as its defending champion. He’s also entered as the second seed after Andy Murray rose to World No. 1 at the Paris Masters. With both players able to clinch the year-end top ranking this week, Djokovic needed a good start to boost his efforts.
For Thiem, who just squeaked into the elite-eight event for the first time, no one was quite sure what to expect from his debut at the London O2 Arena.
The first set proved a close one right down to the end. Both men held their own with strong serving. While Djokovic targeted Thiem’s one handed backhand, the Austrian came up with several clutch winners when needed to keep himself in striking distance.
Eventually the set resulted in a tiebreak with no one inside the Arena quite sure who would take it. Thiem enjoyed an early lead when he ripped this forehand pass to give himself the mini-break.
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Thiem eventually jumped out to a 6-3 advantage. But a pair of costly double faults eventually led to Djokovic leveling things at 6-all.
Djokovic himself held his first set a few points later up 9-8. But Djokovic then sent a lob just long that put things back level at 9-all. Thiem then earned his seventh set point at 10-all when Djokovic sprayed a forehand wide. On the next point, Thiem ripped a forehand winner to seal the set 7-6(10).
After that, Djokovic smacked a ball in the direction for his coaching team Boris Becker and Marian Vajda.
That outburst seemed to refocus Djokovic at the start of the second set. Djokovic broke Thiem to open the set and from then on it became all about the defending champion.
Thiem, unable to produce the same high level as earlier, quickly fell behind. Djokovic in just over 20 minutes raced ahead 6-0 to force a deciding set.
The momentum stayed with Djokovic from then on even though Thiem began showing more energy than before. But Djokovic himself raised the level of his own game to counter the Austrian’s resurgence.
Djokovic secured the first service break for 2-1 after a pair of errors from Thiem. From there, Djokovic just had to take care of his own serve to see him through.
Despite some flashy winners from Thiem down the stretch, it wasn’t enough to halt Djokovic who secured another break to go up 5-2.
On match point, Djokovic used a serve and volley combination to seal the comeback 6-7(10), 6-0, 6-2 victory.
“It was a good match with a great first set. After the first set I lost a little bit of energy which is required to play close and good sets against Novak. All in all it was an unbelievable experience to play in front of this great crowd,” Thiem said after the loss.
“The tiebreak was deservedly won by him. He was the better player in the tougher moments,” Djokovic added. “After that I was able to regroup and play very well.”
Murray will first step on court as No. 1 on Monday against Marin Cilic.