Two former top 10 players, both searching for a comeback at the first grand slam of the year, was always likely to make for compelling viewing.
But few could have foreseen the calibre of the five-set, five-hour battle between Canada’s Felix Auger-Alissiame and Austria’s Dominic Thiem that played out at an awestruck Margaret Court Arena into the early hours of Tuesday.
For Thiem, who has suffered an unholy run of bad luck and injury since winning the US Open in 2020, it was a heartbreaking loss in the decider after an extraordinary fight back from two sets to love down. The former world No. 3 has only made it past the first round of a major once since that triumph in New York.
Auger-Alissiame, 23, was – and still is – talked about as one of the future greats of the game after reaching world No. 6 in 2022 and making the quarter-finals at three consecutive grand slams. But injury and form trouble saw him drop to 30 in the rankings.
A straight sets victory for the Canadian, which at several points seemed entirely possible – even likely – would not have reflected the very high level of tennis by both players from the first ball.
If Thiem often looked spent while shuffling back to the bench between games, he didn’t show it during play, somehow summoning the strength to produce fast, penetrating, line-hugging ground strokes until the bitter end, as did his opponent.
At several points a straight-sets win for Felix Auger-Aliassime seemed possible but he was taken to five by Dominic Thiem in a thriller.Credit: Getty images
At 1-1 in the third set, Auger-Aliassime was being pulled out wide to the backhand side by Thiem, who skilfully came forward and cut the angle short. The Canadian was running forward and on the full stretch when he produced a backhand winner from outside the doubles line and just above the ground. The ball appeared to almost go around the net – although it did not stay as low as Roger Federer’s famous shot against Nick Kyrgios at the 2018 US Open – and successfully landed in the back corner on Thiem’s forehand side.
There was sustained applause and cheering from the crowd as the umpire confirmed there was no double bounce and Auger-Aliassime had won the point, though Thiem ultimately held serve that game, and the set was decided in a tiebreak.
Auger-Aliassime led 5-2 in that breaker, putting him just two points away from a straight-sets win, but he was bested by a doggedly determined Thiem.
The Austrian continued his comeback by breaking his opponent in the opening game of the fourth, and held that lead through the set. But Thiem was unable to serve it out and Auger-Aliassime got the break back to level it at 5-5.
Dominic Thiem produced a “backhand from a different galaxy” in the fifth set but ultimately lost to Felix Auger-Aliassime.Credit: AP
At that point, one may have thought the 30-year-old Thiem would deflate and crumble, but he broke straight back with an incredible series of ground strokes, aided by errors off the Auger-Aliassime racquet.
Commencing a fifth set at nearly 1am, after four hours of brutal, physical play, is a feat of endurance that few people – many sportsmen included – could not countenance. But that is tennis.
While at the outset, the decider felt as though it could have gone either way, Thiem was unable to maintain the momentum, and Auger-Aliassime secured the early break. The Austrian, though, was not going down without one last fight, and at 1-4 unleashed a ripping backhand winner over the high part of the net that had the crowd – still strong despite the hour – gasping and on their feet.
It was “a backhand from a different galaxy”, one commentator said. But the flash of brilliance was not enough to knock Auger-Aliassime off course as he locked in a 6-3, 7-5, 6-7, 5-7, 6-3 victory.
At four hours and 59 minutes, it was the Canadian’s longest ever match. “It’s crazy, these matches. You go through all the emotions,” he said in the on-court post-match interview. “I would be even happier if that was a final, and I was resting now, but it was only a first round.”
Thiem exited the court at about 1.45am to a standing ovation from an audience who seemed well aware they had witnessed a contest that went beyond the realm of ordinary tennis and entered a special plane.
