By Randy Walker
@TennisPublisher
Dominic Thiem was literally the last man standing in an historic end to the men’s singles competition at the 2020 U.S. Open.
For the first time in the 50-year history of tiebreakers at the U.S. Open, a tiebreaker in the fifth set determined the men’s singles championship. It was the closest ever U.S. Open men’s singles final with Thiem, the No. 2 seed from Austria, defeating good friend Alexander Zverev, the No 4 seed from Germany 2-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 7-6(6), It was one of the most dramatic – and unusual – conclusions to a major final ever, largely because it was played in an almost completely empty cavernous 23,000-seat Arthur Ashe Stadium due to no fans being allowed at the event due to the coronavirus global pandemic.
To add to the history of the match, Thiem became the first man to come back from two-sets-to-love down in a U.S. singles final since Pancho Gonzales defeated Ted Schroeder in the 1949 U.S. singles final 16-18, 2-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-4. The two-set comeback in the U.S. men’s singles final has only been by five players previously – Gonzales in 1949, Jack Kramer in 1947, Don McNeill in 1940, Bill Tilden in 1922 and Maurice McLoughlin in 1912.
Zverev served for the match at 5-3 in the fifth set, but faltered and Thiem also failed to serve out the match at 6-5 in the final set, but both men fighting their nerves, cramps and dwindling fitness in the pressure-packed four hour contest. Both men were fighting for their first ever major title and eager to take advantage of the unique opportunity to not have the generation’s three greatest champions, Novak Djokovic (defaulted in the fourth round), Roger Federer (injury) and Rafael Nadal (decided not to play due to the pandemic), not in the final. Thiem is the first player other than Djokovic, Federer or Nadal to win a major singles title since 2016.
Until 2019, the U.S. Open was the only Grand Slam tournament to use a tiebreaker in the decisive sets, but Wimbledon and the Australian Open implemented the practice, in different ways, following the 2018 match in the Wimbledon men’s singles semifinals when Kevin Anderson beat John Isner 7-6, 6-7, 6-7, 6-4, 26-24, wrecking the schedule of play late in the tournament and not allowing Anderson to be an proper shape for the men’s singles final, which he subsequently lost meekly to Novak Djokovic. This also on the heels of Isner’s insane 70-68 fifth set three-day marathon Wimbledon win in 2010 over Nicolas Mahut. Wimbledon’s ruled that a tiebreaker would be played at 12-12 in a decisive set and the first time it was used during the 2019 men’s final between Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, won by Djokovic 7-6 (5), 1-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4, 13-12 (3). The Australian Open decided to hold a special 10-point tiebreaker in a decisive set, which has yet to be played in a championship match.
Final-set tiebreakers have determined two women’s singles finals at the U.S. Open, Tracy Austin beating Martina Navratilova 1-6, 7-6 (4), 7-6 (1) in 1981 and Hana Mandlikova also beating Navratilova in the 1985 final by a 7-6 (2), 1-6, 7-6 (3) scoreline. A fifth-set tiebreaker determined the 1987 men’s doubles title at the U.S. Open, when it was a best-of-five set event, with Stefan Edberg and Anders Jarryd defeating Ken Flach and Robert Seguso 7-6 (7-1), 6-2, 4-6, 5-7, 7-6 (7-2). In an unusual circumstance, a tiebreaker – but not a fifth-set – determined the 1971 U.S. Open men’s doubles title as John Newcombe and Roger Taylor beat Stan Smith and Erik van Dillen. Wrote Bud Collins in his book and tennis encyclopedia “The Bud Collins History of Tennis” (for sale and download here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1937559386/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_x_v4SxFbHTJ5RRW of the unusual ending, “Smith and Erik van Dillen were even at two sets apiece against Newcombe and Englishman Roger Taylor in the doubles final when darkness closed in. Rather than resume the next day, it was agreed, questionably, and with no precedent, to improvise—a sudden-death tie-breaker would decide the championship. In a cheap abbreviation unique to the men’s majors, Newcombe-Taylor won it, 5-points-to-3, thus the title, 6-7, 6-3, 7-6 (5-4), 4-6, with a big asterisk. It was contrary to all tennis principals.”
Tiebreakers have been played at the U.S. Open since 1970. The U.S. Open was the first Grand Slam tournament to implement the more fan and TV friendly ending of a set that was created by Jimmy Van Alen, also the founder of the International of Fame. Wrote Collins in his encyclopedia, “Players were skeptical, as usual conservative—”It’s like rolling dice,” said Newcombe—and the best of them presented a petition to tournament director Bill Talbert demanding that the Open not be reduced to a craps shoot by tie-breakers. Talbert laughed them off, saying, “Did you ever know a player who bought a ticket?” Agreeing with Talbert, customers, schedule-makers and television producers loved them. So tie-breakers were here to stay—although the more conservative “12-point, but win-by-2” method gradually won favor over 9-point-max sudden death in professional tournaments. Although the tie-breaker, springing from Van Alen’s revolutionary pros-only tourney at the Newport (R.I.) Casino in 1965, was approved by the USLTA for 1970 use, it didn’t get wide exposure until the televised U.S. Pro. In a second rounder, Drysdale led Rosewall, 6-4, 6-6. At 4-4 in the breaker it was simultaneous match point for Cliff, set point for Ken, the server. Sudden death. “How strange to play all your life and never be in a situation like this before,” said Drysdale, who won the point and the decision. Two weeks later, during the Pennsylvania Grass Championships in Philadelphia, Tom Gorman, the future U.S. Davis Cup captain, also found himself in the new “weirdness”—the closest match ever played—against Pakistani Haroon Rahim in the second round. “I’d grown up believing that if you never lost your serve in a match you couldn’t lose,” said Gorman. “Wrong that day. I didn’t lose serve. But neither did Haroon”—the victor by one point, 6-7 (3-5), 7-6 (5-1), 7-6 (5-4).
