Eurosport tennis expert Mats Wilander believed that Dominic Thiem would lose to Nick Kyrgios, but the Austrian impressed with his mental strength and his entry into the round of 16 of the Australian Open.
Thiem, the number 3 seed, recovered from a deficit of two sets and beat home favorites Kyrgios in Melbourne Park with 4: 6, 4: 6, 6: 3, 6: 4, 6: 4. After Thiem the first two sets of the game, he got a break in each of the following three sets and lost no service games to score a comeback win over Kyrgios.
“I was really convinced he was going to let go of here. This is a perfect time for an athlete to say,“ Whoah whoa whoa, that’s good enough, Nick hits me. ”But he didn’t.
Rafa Nadal not, Novak Djokovic not, Roger Federer and Dominic Thiem no more, “said Wilander about Thiem.
Thiem praised Kyrgios after the match
“I already had to do with the defeat, you know, it was first and foremost the first game against Nick and this is the favorite place with an amazing crowd,” said Thiem after the game.
“I think there are easier things to do! This is certainly one of the more difficult challenges in our sport as you never know what is coming. He’s a great player when he’s on fire like he is today, so I’ve honestly dealt with the loss before, but somehow I fought myself in the match and since the US Open you’ve known that impossible is nothing.
“Thiem recovered from a deficit of two sets in the US Open final and defeated Alexander Zverev for his first Grand Slam title.” This game showed me that US Open that giving up is never an option, there is always a chance Because today I was so close to losing.
If he breaks me in the third set of the first game, the match is over. But I was still fighting and then with the break in the third set I realized there might be a chance to turn it around. “Photo Credit: Getty Images
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