Up one end of the court will be Novak Djokovic, playing for his 17th Grand Slam singles title. Up the other will be Dominic Thiem, playing for his first.
In an intergenerational battle pitting an established champion against the challenger most likely, will we see the Australian Open status quo maintained, or a new storyline emerge?
We break down the match-up to get an insight into what might unfold on Sunday at Melbourne Park – the final day and night of action at Australian Open 2020.
Australian Open pedigree
Djokovic is the undisputed King of Melbourne Park – Thiem even said as much when describing the prospect of facing the Serb in the AO2020 final. The 32-year-old extended his flawless semifinal record at the tournament to 8-0 with his straight-sets defeat of Roger Federer and takes a daunting 7-0 record in AO finals into his clash with Thiem. Having won his first Australian title in 2008 and his most recent just 12 months ago, this is Djokovic’s best Grand Slam event.
Thiem, on the other hand, has never progressed this deep in Melbourne. The Austrian notched back-to-back fourth-round finishes here in 2017 and 2018, but until this year he had never beaten a top-25 player at the year’s first Grand Slam event. At the 2020 edition, however, he’s recorded three top-10 wins in succession – including his first Grand Slam victory in six attempts over world No.1 Rafael Nadal in a terrific quarterfinal.
Grand Slam CV
Djokovic may have recorded his most dominant Grand Slam performances at Melbourne Park, but it’s not like he hasn’t flourished elsewhere. He is currently the reigning Australian Open and Wimbledon champion, his victory at SW19 last July his fifth Wimbledon triumph. In addition, he has scooped three trophies at Flushing Meadows while his 2016 triumph at Roland Garros saw him hold all four major titles simultaneously. He owns a 16-9 record in Grand Slam finals, having won eight of his past nine.
Thiem is appearing in his third Grand Slam final, and first away from Roland Garros. Both of those losses in Paris came to Rafael Nadal, but after a straight-sets blowout in the 2018 final, he extended Nadal to four sets in last year’s French decider. While this marks by far his best Australian Open result, the 26-year-old Thiem has shown form on US hard courts, advancing to the 2018 quarterfinals in New York – his third straight appearance in the second week of the US Open.
Form coming in
Djokovic is unbeaten in 2020, winning six singles matches to help deliver Serbia the title at the inaugural ATP Cup before winning another six en route to the final here. He has dropped just one set to reach the final, which came in his first-round victory over big-hitting German Jan-Lennard Struff. His 12-0 record so far is his best start to a season since 2016, when he went unbeaten in his first 14 matches.
Thiem’s form to open 2020 was as patchy as Djokovic’s was dominant. The Austrian went 1-2 in the group stages of the ATP Cup, falling to Borna Coric and Hubert Hurkacz and unable to lift his team into the knock-out quarterfinal stage. Yet Thiem has righted the ship in Melbourne, and will take confidence from the fact he has won four of his past five meetings with the Serb – including their most recent Grand Slam meeting in the Roland Garros semifinals of 2019.
Path to the final
After dropping the third set of his opening-round match to Struff, Djokovic has cruised, winning 16 consecutive sets to advance to an eighth AO final. His quarterfinal win over Milos Raonic took his record against the Canadian to a perfect 10-0, while his semifinal victory over Federer was his sixth straight against the Swiss at a Grand Slam event.
Thiem looked vulnerable when he was stretched to five sets by Australian wildcard Alex Bolt in the second round. But since then, his game has elevated. In the fourth round, quarterfinals and semifinals, he beat world No.10 Gael Monfils, No.1 Rafael Nadal and No.7 Alexander Zverev respectively.