"Even though it was not Roger Federer's best year, it was unreal for me to beat him" - Dominic Thiem on his win against the Swiss in Stuttgart 2016
Dominic Thiem has struggled to find form after suffering a wrist injury in June 2021. Thiem returned to action at the Marbella Challenger in March, where he failed to get past the first round. The Austrian hasn't won a match this season.
The former World No. 3, who rose to prominence in 2016 after making the semifinals of the French Open and breaking into the top 10, recalled a memorable triumph at Stuttgart the same year.
As part of an ATP tour YouTube video, the 28-year-old travelled down memory lane to when he beat Swiss great Roger Federer in the semifinals of the Stuttgart Open six years ago.
"Even though it was not Roger's best year, it was unreal for me to beat him," the 2020 US Open champion asserted.
The performance at Stuttgart was significant considering that Thiem had just a couple of days to prepare on grass after having played the semifinals of the French Open.
"I just remember that the preparation was really short because I played the semis of the French Open. That moment was the best in my career until then because I had just broken into the top 10 in my first Grand Slam semifinals. I think I played on Friday there and arrived in Stuttgart on Sunday or Monday," Thiem said.
"I only had 2 or 3 days on grass and the 2 previous years on grass were pretty bad for me. I think I only had one or two wins on that surface," he added.
"When the final came I said well here is a chance to win a grasscourt title" - Dominic Thiem
Dominic Thiem's opening match at the 2016 Stuttgart Open was against Sam Groth, whose lethal serve helped the Austrian prepare for what was to come in the remaining rounds.
"Playing against Groth was probably the best start for the tournament because he was serving at 230-240 kilometres/hour and playing a typical grass court game," Thiem said.
A 7-6(3), 7-6(2) win against Groth set Thiem up for a meeting against Mikhail Youzhny. Getting past the Russian 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 in the quarterfinals gave Thiem just the kind of self-belief he needed to succeed on grass.
"In the second round, I faced Youzhny and I beat him. It actually gave me a good boost on that surface because I was thinking, hey I can also play on grass, its not only clay or hard court," he said.
Awaiting Thiem in the semifinals was then seven-time Wimbledon champion Roger Federer.
The Austrian, who recalled going into the match with an "easy mindset," lost the first set, but bounced back in the second, winning it in a tie-break before taking the third 6-4.
"I went in with a very easy mindset just to enjoy playing against Roger on a grasscourt," Thiem recalled.
"I lost the first set and I think I was 5-0 up in the second. He came back to 5-5. I said to myself if I can win the second set I can also win the match and that is how it turned out," he added.
Dominic Thiem squared off against Philipp Kohlschreiber in the final, beating the German 6-7(2), 6-4, 6-4.
"When the finals came, I said, well, there is a chance to win a grass-court title. This would be absolutely amazing and I was giving everything I had," he said.
Thiem recalled the rain-interrupted final, which was played over two days on two different courts.
"Centre Court was broken because of the all the rain they had. The second part of the finals was on Monday on Court One so it is still a nice memory," he said.
Following his triumph at Stuttgart, Dominic Thiem became the 29th player in the Open Era to win tournaments on hardcourt, clay, and grass in the same year. He won titles in Buenos Aires (clay), Acapulco (hard) and Nice (clay) earlier in the season.