It’s been tennis’ classic one-two punch for several years now: you get past one great, make global headlines, only to succumb to another one soon after. Which is why it takes some effort, a miracle or two — or three — for an ‘outsider’ to achieve success in a Grand Slam.
Only two times in the last 45 Grand Slams, spanning 2006-17, has men’s tennis seen a winner outside of the big five of Nadal, Djokovic, Roger Federer, Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka.
On Friday, Dominic Thiem, the 23-year-old Austrian rising star who bludgeons tennis balls for fun now, will be the latest to take up this challenge, in hope of achieving the near-impossible.
He’s been knocking on the door this clay season, and consistently failing at the second hurdle. In Barcelona, Thiem defeated Murray in three sets, his first ever win over the Scot, only to lose the final in straight sets to Nadal. In Rome, he beat Nadal in straight sets, which remains the Spaniard’s only defeat on clay this season, but was hammered 6-1, 6-0 by Djokovic in the final. Both of these, it must be noted, came within 24 hours of his previous win.
In order to overcome this elusive second hurdle, a player needs to truly push his physical and mental boundaries. Or hope for a bit of luck on his side, like in the case of Marin Cilic’s victory in the 2014 US Open which is the last time we had an ‘outsider’ winning a men’s Slam.
Defending champion Nadal had withdrawn from that tournament, while Djokovic, Murray and Wawrinka were in the other half of the draw. Federer was Cilic’s only major scalp, in the semis, following which he went on to triumph in the final with ease over Kei Nishikori, whose upsets of both Wawrinka and Djokovic in previous rounds had already taken a toll on him.
Further back, in the 2009 US Open, Juan Martin del Potro, the lovable Argentine, had crushed Nadal in the semis and pulled off a sensational five-set win over Federer in the final. It remains the greatest men’s win in a Slam in the last decade; a truly rare story of unlikely triumph.
Remember Robin Soderling? At Roland Garros in 2009, the Swede had halted Nadal’s 31-match winning streak in what is considered the greatest upset in Open era. He duly lost the final in straight sets to Federer. One year later, he beat Federer and then lost the final to Nadal.
