Baseline Awards of 2019: Most perplexing match-up

Back in 2016 at their first-ever meeting in Brisbane, Australia, world No. 20 Dominic Thiem fell to the No. 3-ranked Roger Federer in straight sets in the semifinals. When they faced each other twice over that summer, though, Thiem—rapidly rising up the rankings—had turned the tables on his more-accomplished opponent, defeating him on clay in Rome and surprisingly, on grass in Stuttgart.

It would be more than two years before they faced each other again, this time at the 2018 ATP Finals. With the conditions suiting his game and experience playing a role, as well, Federer topped the Austrian in straight sets.

If there’s one thing that can be noted about Thiem, though, is that his game is a constant state of evolution—a fact that Federer was made well aware of in 2019.

The two took the court for the championship match in Indian Wells, CA, where Thiem was playing his first hard-court Masters 1000 final and Federer was a five-time champion at the tournament. After dropping the first set, Thiem rallied to take the next two to pick up his biggest career title.

When they next met, in the quarterfinals of the Madrid Open, it was all Federer through the first set and up until the second-set tiebreak. In that mini-frame, Thiem fought off two match points to send the battle to a deciding set, which he won 6-4.

With both of the 2019 Grand Slam finalists enjoying strong seasons, their berths in the ATP Finals were essentially assured early on. Grouped together in round-robin play for the second year in a row, Thiem reversed the result of a year ago at that stage, beating Federer in straight sets, a result that helped set up his run to the final.

Over the course of the past decade, it’s usually the likes of his peers in the “Big Four”—Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray—that would post multiple wins over Federer. Now, the aggressive baseliner Thiem can be counted among the players to have the Swiss’ number—for now, at least.