Paris, the great revalidation of Thiem

• US Open.Thiem, first champion born in the 90s

When he saw Zverev's backhand cross slide down the doubles alley, Dominic Thiem dropped back to the ground with his arms crossed before covering his face with his hands.

It was not just the four hours of the game that he had on, but

.

Grand Slam Champion.

The first from a player other than Federer, Djokovic or Nadal since 2016;

of a newcomer since 2014;

of a tennis player born - finally - in the nineties.

Broken the wall, wait for the revalidation: in two weeks Roland Garros arrives.

Thiem's ​​triumph misleads tennis's hunger to crown its new stars.

They have been here for a long time (there are four under-25s among the 10 best in the world), but that first title was still missing to make the change palpable.

It is already known:

.

From Roland Garros in 2004 to this US Open there was not a major in which none of the three reached the quarterfinals.

That's the little footnote the Austrian will now try to clear.

The surprise at this US Open was possible since Nadal, the current champion, and Federer, injured, resigned (also Wawrinka, winner in 2016 and twice semifinalist, although diminished by injuries).

And inevitable since Djokovic pulled out of the tournament in the round of 16 with

of a linesman.

Thiem has been crowned without having to defeat any of the big three, taking advantage of an unusual emptiness, but if someone in the team had done merit to knock down the door it was him.

Glass roof

The Austrian has been one of the great victims of that glass ceiling.

He reached the last two Roland Garros finals but found Nadal, the best in history on clay.

And he reached the last final of the Australian Open (defeating the Mallorcan), but he met Djokovic, eight times champion in Melbourne.

He was not joking about calling

reason

, although the recent numbers were beginning to tell another story.

Thiem has long established itself as one of the main threats to the Big Three.

Since 2018, his balance in direct duels is 9-7 (the overall of his career, 14-18, does not detract either), with important victories such as the semi-finals of Roland Garros in 2019 against Nole or the quarter-finals of this 2020 in Australia against Nadal, and defeats of enormous merit like that final in Melbourne in February, or the five hours and five sets that he endured against the Balearic at the US Open two years ago.

He was the most advanced applicant.

Exam in Paris

Now the eyes are directed towards Roland Garros, where he starts as a great favorite alongside Nadal and Djokovic.

And not only because of the recently won title, but because of the curriculum that he already has on the Parisian clay: since 2016 he has not gotten out of the semifinals and in these four editions the only ones who have managed to cut him off are the Balearic, absolute dominator, and the Serbian, number one in the world.

In fact, Nole only managed to defeat him the first time, four years ago.

The last two duels have been for the Austrian.

In this highly compressed schedule until the end of the season, winning the US Open has forced him to forfeit the Masters 1000 in Rome, so his only chance to adapt to the clay before Paris would be to get a wild card for the

.

There he could meet again with the local idol, Alexander Zverev, a great friend for years and another of the young people who will surely fill the void that the big three will one day leave.

If the US Open final showed anything, and in particular that magnificent last set, it is that the new generation is ready to discuss the dominance of the Big Three at the big events.

If they have to prove something at Roland Garros, it is if that first title really marks the beginning of the relay.

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