‘I’ve Beaten Federer, Nadal & Djokovic Many Times – Here’s How’
Former US Open champion Dominic Thiem made the tough decision to retire at the age of 31, announcing in May of this year that the Vienna Open would be his last event. Reflecting on his illustrious career, he spoke about his many cherished memories, including an impressive record against tennis’ ‘Big Three’ in Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic.
The Austrian’s career came to an end recently with a straight-set defeat to Italy’s Luciano Darderi, losing 7-6 (8-6), 6-2 to the world number 42. Less than a year after his triumph in the 2020 US Open in New York, Thiem suffered a wrist injury which kept him off the tour for 10 months, resulting in his ranking plummeting. Since then, he has struggled to find his best game, and return back to the top of the sport, which led to him announcing his retirement at the end of the season in May 2024.
Rather than reflect on what could have been for his career if not hampered by injuries, Thiem was keen to speak about his many positive achievements in the sport. He won 17 titles at ATP Tour level during his career and was a French Open finalist in 2018 and 2019 respectively, and runner-up at the Australian Open in 2020. Not only that, but Thiem’s record against the ‘Big Three’ is remarkable, obtaining an impressive 5-2 winning record against Federer, while also beating Nadal on six occasions, and Djokovic five times.
In an era where the ‘Big Three’ dominated the world of tennis, it is undoubtedly an extremely impressive feat to possess such a strong record against some of the sport’s all-time greats. Looking back on how he challenged and overcame those icons of the sport, he explained how his mental approach was fundamental to his success.
Speaking on the ‘A New Way of Being’ podcast, he said: “I had the belief, like throughout a period of two or three years, that when I went on the court against them, I really had a true chance to win and that was really nice. If you have a chance to beat the ‘Big Three’, then you have a chance to beat anybody anyway. So that was a great feeling.
“I think that, like, the basic level of those three players was just higher than me and higher than anybody else and I think still is on their peak. So, it was really tough to maintain, but the two to three years were still very nice.”
Thiem explained that his positive mindset when facing Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic was key to his success against them, and he connected this approach to how he handles challenges to everyday life.
He also highlighted Djokovic, among the big three, at being the best at enduring tough moments to achieve success in the sport.
“We are human beings, and I think to a certain point, we cannot control what thoughts are coming up, what feelings are coming up. When they are negative, they are negative. Then, even if we want them to be positive, they’re not going to, they’re not going to turn into nice thoughts or into nice feelings
