Dominic Thiem: I dedicated my whole for this, my life goal has been accomplished

Austrian tennis star Dominic Thiem revealed when he made his maiden Grand Slam semifinal at the French Open in 2016 he started believing he could one day become a Major champion.

This past Sunday, No. 2 seed Thiem staged a big comeback against Alexander Zverev in the US Open final as he came back from two sets down to beat the fifth-seeded German 2-6 4-6 6-4 6-3 7-6 (6).

"Well, when I first realized that maybe one day I could really win a major was when I first broke into the semis of Roland Garros, when I broke into top 10. From that moment on I dreamed about it. I thought that it's maybe realistic," Thiem said.

"Back then I thought my biggest chances by far are on clay. But then the end of last year somehow changed a lot of things when I won Beijing, when I won Vienna, when I played the great Nitto ATP Finals. Then I realized that my game is suiting the hard courts really well.

"Of course, since I'm working with Nico, we improved my game on hard court a lot. Also changed my mind that many shots are working great on that surface. So I think my best major until now US Open, I played in Australia. Now it's not for me that big surprise any more that it's not the French.

"At the end it doesn't matter to me. Main thing is that I have one of these four now."

Thiem admits his life goal has been achieved 

Previously, Thiem lost two French Open finals and earlier this year he ended runner-up at the Australian Open. 

"Yeah, definitely I achieved a life goal, a dream of myself, which I had for many, many years. Of course, as a kid, as well, when I started to play tennis. But back then it's so far away," Thiem admitted.

"Then I got closer and closer to the top. At one point I realized that, Wow, maybe one day I can really win one of the four biggest titles in tennis.

"I put a lot of work in. I mean, I dedicated basically my whole life until this point to win one of the four majors. Now I did it. That's also for myself a great accomplishment.

"I mean, it's by far not only myself, it's an accomplishment from all my team, from all my family. I guess also today is the day where I gave back huge amount of what they did for me."

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/32x1byn