By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Monday August 28, 2023
Dominic Thiem powered past Alexander Bublik to snap a five-match losing streak at the Grand Slams.
Photo Source: TTV
It has been a long, winding road for Dominic Thiem since he became a Grand Slam champion at the US Open in 2020. First he struggled with motivation after his major breakthrough, then injuries debilitated him, with a wrist issue and a hand injury sending him off the tour for nearly a near and causing his ranking to plummet outside of the Top-300 for a spell.
After finishing outside of the ATP’s Top 100 for the first time since 2013 last season, Thiem is finally healthy and building back some confidence step by step. He demonstrated his uptick in form on Monday as he eased past No.25-seeded Alexander Bublik 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 for his first Grand Slam victory since the 2021 US Open.
“It was amazing,” Theim said an elated after recording his 75th Grand Slam win, and first at the US Open since he won the title over Alexander Zverev in 2020. “Today is pretty special. I haven’t won a Grand Slam match since Australia ‘21, so that’s a very long time.”
“I couldn’t have wished for a better place to do it, with all the memories and all the past experiences here. Some very good ones, also some rough ones, especially on this court, so I’m super happy.”
Thiem improves to 23-7 lifetime at Flushing Meadows and 75-33 overall at the Slams.
How would he describe the ten-month period after he injured his wrist, from June of 2021 to April of 2022?
“Very difficult," he said. "It was my first major injury, on my wrist, which is very important for my game, it just took its time to recover, and I took my time to get my confidence back in the wrist. I was also out for ten month out of the tour, while the other players improved I was not able to practice well, but now I’m back on track and it means a lot to me that this first Grand Slam victory after this injury happened at the US Open.”
The victory is a big step for Thiem, who improves to 15-18 on the season, but has shown better form of late, reaching the final at his hometown tournament in Kitzbuhel.
He will ready himself for a second-round clash with American Ben Shelton on Day 3, hoping to progress to the third round for the seventh time at the US Open.