Former World Number 12, believes Dominic Theim’s recent success over Federer, Djokovic and Nadal will act as a confidence booster for the others behind

Former World Number 12, believes Dominic Theim’s recent success over Federer, Djokovic and Nadal will act as a confidence booster for the others behind
Dominic Thiem has beaten the Big 3 consistently in the past years

Paul-Henri Mathieu, former World number 12 believes that Dominic Thiem’s recent success over Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic has been a confidence booster for the others on tour. For long, the Big 3 of tennis have dominated tennis, at ATP tournaments and Grandslam events, but now the Austrian is standing tall against them.

Dominic Thiem has attained 5 victories against each of the Big 3 members, and is only the second player to attain this feat after Andy Murray. Mathieu elaborated on this fact and added that the Austrian’s success gives hopes to other players. “The fact that Dominic Thiem regularly beats Federer, Nadal and Djokovic gives more hope to those behind. They say to themselves: ‘Why not us?’ And that’s why others succeed. It’s not because the three legends are less strong,” Mathieu said.

“When these young people come back on the court, they don’t start beaten at all. It’s really 50-50 in their head, which was not the case 3-4 years ago. The approach to the match is completely different,” he added. The gap is narrowing. And the fact of regularly facing Djoko, Rafa and Roger, it allows Dominic Thiem, Medvedev and others, to raise their level of play,” the Frenchman said.

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US Open title has open a lot of doors for Thiem: Mathieu

The Austrian won the US Open title defeating Zverev in the final

Dominic Thiem won first Masters title at Indian Wells last year and backed it up with a final appearance at the Nitto ATP Finals 2019. He reached the Australian Open 2020 finals, losing to Djokovic in a 5-set match. He got his hands on his maiden Grandslam trophy at the US Open 2020, where he defeated Alexander Zverev in a 5-set thriller.

Mathieu believes that after winning the US Open title, Thiem has unlocked many doors for himself. “The fact of having won the US Open, it unlocked a lot of things for him,” Mathieu said. “He has regularly beaten the best in his recent encounters. He even has a positive record against them in the last two years. And that does not lie. His average level of play is really high,” said Mathieu.

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