The 2019 final of the ATP playoffs was highly dramatic.

The two playoff debutants, Greek Stefano Tsitsipas and Austrian Dominic Thiem, both offered magnificent tennis, and also nervous play with simple misses.

Up and down

After an even first stage, where both kept their servers and it was decided first in tiebreak - to Thiem's ​​advantage - came a second set where Thiem broke directly and went up to 4-0 and won 6-2.

But in the third and decisive set it became really smooth again. Tsitsipas broke to 2-1, but after a couple of weak balls by Tsitsipas a moment later, Thiem was able to break back to 3-3.

Well played tiebreak

Since Thiem first served in the third set, and both players held their serve, Tsitsipas had the knife against the throat in two games - but he palled the press and took the set - and the match - to a crucial tiebreak.

There, despite the huge magnitude of the match, there were some high-quality ball duels. It swung back and forth. First, Tsitsipa's two balls won in Thiem's ​​serve. But then Thiem came back and took two balls in Tsitsipa's serve - and two balls himself.

Decided on the second serve

But then he faced a simple miss from the baseline, and 21-year-old Tsitsipas was given the chance to serve the match home.

And he did. First, after a long stroke, Thiem struck the ball slightly in net. And then, on the second serve, Thiem returned.

Thiem then let go of the rack, went down on his knees and then got up and held his hands to his forehead and barely seemed to understand what had happened.