Within the space of an hour, two of the top players in the world, and among 2019’s most prolific champions, No3 Roger Federer and No5 Dominic Thiem, brought two tennis arenas to their feet. Basel and Vienna would both celebrate home victories for their favourite tennis sons.
The respective histories for Federer and Thiem in their national ATP500s was certainly very different.
Federer had won in Basel nine times before, and in his past four appearances. He was now playing his 13th consecutive final in the Swiss city, his 15th overall, and he had a 74-9 record at the tournament, having won 23 consecutive matches at St Jakobshalle.
Thiem, in contrast, was playing at the Erste Bank Open in Vienna for the 10th straight year. But he began the week with a mere 8-8 record in his nation’s capital, for his previous best results had been two quarter-final runs. However, by the end of his 2019 campaign, he had battled back from a set down three times to finally lift that elusive trophy.
For both men, then, this would be a very emotional Sunday afternoon, one that took Federer to his fourth title of the year—equal with Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal—and Thiem to a tour-leading five titles.
Federer, all week, had looked supremely calm and assured, dropped just three games in each of his first two matches, enjoyed a walk-over against fellow Swiss Stan Wawrinka, and turned on the form to dismiss one of the finest NextGen players in tennis, world No6 Stefanos Tsitsipas, 6-4, 6-4.
Now he played another young talent whose confident run to the final assured him of breaking into the top 20 for the first time, 20-year-old Alex de Minaur. The Australian had won three titles this year already, and he soon made it clear that he would not be overawed by playing Federer for the first time in such a partisan arena.
Indeed, Federer was the one who looked nervous, and he took several minutes and several deuces to hold serve in the first game of the match. He missed first serves, and soon got a taste of the variety of angle, spin and pace that de Minaur can produce. The Swiss finally held, but de Minaur quickly levelled 1-1.
Now Federer, a little more settled, held to love, and in the fourth game, chipped a delicate backhand down the line to catch out de Minaur and earn three break points. The Australian showed his courage and stickability to win a 39-shot rally, going backhand to backhand, but at the third time of asking, a smash winner got its reward for Federer, a break, 3-1.
De Minaur showed his speed and versatility in a net exchange to open the fifth game, and it rushed Federer, but a Swiss ace closed out the hold.
The quality of the tennis continued to rise, with de Minaur varying his pace and showing deft touch around the net. He stepped in to force errors from the Swiss, but Federer upped the pace and power to fend off 30-30, 5-2. Now, the pressure began to tell on the youngster, a few errors crept into his serve, and Federer broke again for the set, 6-2.
This time, Federer began the set better with a strong hold, and then a probing game of chips and angles forced a growing number of errors from the Australian. The Swiss broke, 2-0.
De Minaur played a couple of great net shots to hold to love in the fourth game, but he was under growing pressure as Federer’s serve and forehand penetrated the Australian’s defences. He fended off break point for 2-4, but the Swiss broke once again for set, match and title No10, 6-2. It had taken just 68 minutes, and it brought the house down.
Federer raised his arms, threw back his head, and by the time he was given a special trophy—a bronze of Federer’s hand holding a ball—he could hold it together no longer. As the standing ovation continued, tears filled his eyes. He has wept many times before after great big victories—and bitter losses—but this time, perhaps it was simply the affection of Basel, and his four children in the front row, that did for him.
He concluded: “I thought Alex played a great tournament, and I think we both can be very happy. But what a moment for me to win my 10th here in my hometown of Basel… I couldn’t be more happy.”
It would take Thiem two and a half hours until he collapsed on the court in disbelief at what he had achieved. That he had come close to missing out once again in Vienna made the victory all the sweeter—and the reception from the fans all the more rapturous. As it was, Thiem extended his run in Austria this year to nine straight wins after also lifting his first trophy in Kitzbühel in August.
Schwartzman had silenced the home crowd in the first set with two breaks of serve to take the lead, 6-3. Thiem then had to save break point at 2-3 in the second set, and did so with an ace, one of five in the set. One break against Schwartzman, 5-4, and Thiem served out the set, 6-4.
The Vienna crowd was ecstatic, as it had been all week for their Austrian star. And Thiem finally took control of the match in the third, breaking early, and breaking again for the title, 6-3.
Naturally, it was an emotional victory for Thiem:
“It’s been an unbelievable year for me in Austria, to win titles in Kitzbühel and now here in Vienna. I have had some troubles to deliver my best tennis in front of these amazing crowds, and now, in the same year, I win both titles. It is completely unreal to me.
“To share the court and final with a guy who became a very close friend in all these years is very nice in one way. To beat him in such an important match is hard in the other way… It has been a dream week.”
Hopes and dreams fulfilled, then, for two proud cities and their home-grown heroes. Except that for Federer and Thiem, the emotions will soon be put aside, as they prepare for a still bigger prize: the ATP Finals in London.