Dominic Thiem vs Big Three: Will the Austrian go down as Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal & Novak Djokovic's toughest opponent?
Dominic Thiem of Austria has announced that he will retire at the end of the 2024 season. The former US Open champion is only 30 but has never been the same player since a wrist injury plagued him a few years ago. Thiem has also been runner-up at Majors on three occasions.
The Austrian turned pro in 2011 and has won 17 ATP singles titles. He also reached a career-high ranking of third in the world in 2020. Overall, it has been quite a satisfactory career for him but could have been better without the wrist injury.
Thiem has been a worthy rival for the Big Three
Thiem's career coincided with the prime of Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic and also the later years of that of Roger Federer. Most of the players of the Austrian's generation failed to compete with the class of the Big Three and ended up having a poor record against them.
However, the Austrian was a glorious exception in this regard. He has a combined win-loss record of 16-19 against the Big Three (5-2 against Federer, 5-7 against Djokovic and 6-10 against Nadal), which puts his winning ratio against them at roughly 47%. No other player boasts of such healthy numbers against the Big Three.
Andy Murray has won the most number of matches against the Big Three, but his 29-56 win-loss record means that he has won only a third of his matches against them. Another Grand Slam winner, Juan Martin del Potro, has a win-loss record of 17-45 against the Big Three, which puts his winning ratio at 27%.
Hence, it can be said without any doubt that Thiem has been the most competitive player against the three greatest players of all time. Moreover, he also remains one of the few players except Djokovic and Federer to have competed hard against Nadal on clay.
It is true that he lost in a couple of French Open finals to the Spaniard, but he managed to beat the latter on four occasions on clay. Only Djokovic has beaten Nadal more often on the surface (seven times).
Thiem has also beaten Djokovic twice each at the ATP Finals and French Open. Moreover, very few players aside from Djokovic and Nadal have a superior head-to-head against Federer. Hence, the Austrian stands out in that respect, too.
It is also testimony to his mental resolve as a player that he refused to give up without a fight, even against the greatest players in history. He will go down in history as the best competitor the Big Three had. As tennis lovers, we can only appreciate and acknowledge it sincerely.