Dominic Thiem Finally Breaks The Big Three Dominance

The year 2020 began with the prediction from the entire ATP fraternity about a new Grand Slam champion. And during the Australian Open finals, Dominic Thiem came close to the prediction by a few games, but eventually, it was the ‘Melbourne King’ Novak Djokovic lifting up his 17th Slam.

That day, Thiem not just missed the opportunity to break the Grand Slam cycle of the ‘Big Three’, also he couldn’t replace Roger Federer from the World Number three spot on the ATP’s column.

With Federer undergoing knee surgery and being sidelined from important tournaments, it has arguably given the Austrian a ranking boost.

The new World Number three, Dominic Thiem

Last year, the Swiss maestro clinched his 100th career title in Dubai. After failing to make his presence in the UAE this year, Federer dropped 500 ATP points from the Dubai Championships this week. And as a consequence, Dominic Thiem has been declared as the new World Number three tennis player.

The new World Number three tennis professional or rather a NextGen icon who gate-crashed the party of the trinity, Thiem presently has 7045 ATP points. Three-time major finalist is 415 points ahead of the 20-time Grand Slam champion Federer on the ATP roster.

The upcoming days on the ATP circuit are crucial for Thiem. As he’ll be traveling to Indian Wells, California as the defending champion. He needs to come up with quality tennis to defend his 1000 points.

However, with Federer missing the event, the Swiss legend will lose 600 points from Indian Wells. And later 1000 points from the Miami Open. With Roger’s elongated absence from the professional tour, that is until the end of the clay season, Thiem’s World Number three ranking seems to be secured. 

“It’s not my main goal” – Thiem on top three rankings 

A few days ago, Thiem had missed the chance to obtain his career-high ranking during the Rio Open 2020.  As he failed to reach the semifinals in Brazil.

In Rio, the top-seed Thiem was taken down by Gianluca Mager in the quarters, who later made it to his first-ever ATP finals.

However, the Austrian brutal hitter Thiem isn’t concerned about his rankings on the tour. Rather he is just focused on controlling the tennis ball from the baseline.

“Of course, the top 3 would be nice, but it’s not my main goal. Rather, I want to continue the level I played in Australia. Then that should come about with the ranking by itself,” Thiem stated during the Rio Open 2020.