Dominic Thiem walked out on court one to the roar of an adoring crowd. With his frequent play (and frequent success) he has quickly garnered the affection of droves of new fans. By the time his match at the 2016 Wimbledon Championships was over, however, the crowd was roaring for a different person.
His opponent, Juri Vesely, had stunned him in a straight sets victory 7-6(4), 7-6(5), 7-6(3), making Thiem's loss the first big casualty at the sport's most revered tournament.
An uncertain start
Vesely telegraphed his abilities to Thiem very early. In the opening game of the match, he fired a high-velocity ace past the Austrian to easy hold to open play. Thiem responded in kind. He held to love by blasting his own ace right through the heart of the court. The move perked up the crowd, which seemed to sense early on that they were in for a heck of a match.
This affair continued for a while until the world number 8 found himself in a bit of trouble. He began the fourth game with a double fault and unleashed consecutive errors (both unforced) to put himself behind the count. Able to save one break by sending a strong shot to Vesely's backhand, Thiem eventually lost the break when he clumsily sent in yet another double fault.
In a strange set of occurrences, Vesely would return the favor. The Czech posted two double faults of his own to hand the higher seed a break and level both men back on serve. This cat and mouse game eventually led to a tie-break.
Thiem has an excellent tie-break percentage on the year. At 18-10, spectators in the crowd could reasonably assume Thiem would walk away with the first set, building on an impressive showing in tie-breaks throughout the year. They would be wrong.
Vesely combined his willingness to match Thiem's volleys with his own with taking advantage of several mistakes made by the Austrian. Murmurs of an upset seeped into the crowd.
Closer than expected
The subsequent set mirrored the first one. It was an unexpected unfolding of events in the match for many who believed the world number eight, Thiem, should more easily dispatch of his opponent, ranked dozens of spots lower as the 64th best player on the ATP Tour.
Vesely had a markedly better serve percentage. His groundstrokes seemed to flummox Thiem at times, and he fired seven aces in the second set- his opponent answered with just two. All told, another set needed to be decided with another tie-break.
Here, Thiem still failed to build on his strong percentage of victories in tie-breaks on the year, which stood at 64% entering play today. Vesely let Thiem once again dig himself a hole in the break. Much like the previous set, the player who had won his first grass court title earlier this season handed Vesely the set with a flat unforced error.
Vesely went up 2-0 and claimed a domineering grip on the match.
Triumphant Vesely
In the opening game of the third set, Thiem gave himself a chance to get back in a match that had gone horribly wrong for him. However, he let a break opportunity slip through his hands unanswered when he sliced a backhand into the net. Vesely leveled himself and completed the hold.
That would be the only break-point either player faced in the ending set. And that led to Vesely completing a trifecta of sorts on the day. In the third and final tiebreak, he fortified his served. On match-point, Vesely watched in jubilation as Thiem's led to the final error of the match.
The crowd, once behind the higher-seeded Thiem, burst into applause with their full support now with the underdog.
Vesely is building quite the resume on the year. During the clay season , he shocked world number one Novak Djokovic in Monte Carlo. Now, he has claimed another top ten victory.
Today, that match was far from his mind. On No. 1 Court, as the crowd cheered, he fired his hands up with his fist clinched, soaking in the applause.