10 Stats To Watch In The Djokovic-Thiem Australian Open Final

Novak Djokovic and Dominic Thiem will play for the Australian Open trophy. The match figures to be a classic clash between seven-time champion Djokovic’s defence and Thiem’s powerful offence. How have the two men performed throughout the fortnight, and how could that play a role with the title at stake? 

ATPTour.com looks at 10 stats to watch for ahead of the championship battle inside Rod Laver Arena.

1) Dropping Serve: Thiem has been broken nine times in his past two matches, while Djokovic has only lost three service games from the second round on after being broken four times by German Jan-Lennard Struff in his opening round. The second seed has saved 11 of the 18 break points he has faced, while the Austrian, who is pursuing his first Grand Slam title, has been broken 13 times in the tournament from 44 opportunities.

2) Melbourne Magic: Djokovic has history on his side at Melbourne Park. He has won all 15 of his matches after reaching the semi-finals at the season’s first Grand Slam, with 12 of those clashes coming against Top 5 opponents. In those 15 matches, he has only lost 10 sets.

3) Winners-Unforced Errors: Although Thiem is known for his offence, with 287 winners this fortnight, Djokovic has played cleaner tennis, hitting 1.6 winners for every unforced error he has struck (213-131), while the Austrian has hit 1.3 winners per unforced error (287-213).

2020 Australian Open Points, Sets & Time On Court

4) The Point Of Unreturned: Djokovic has been a service rhythm all tournament, seeing 37 per cent of his serves go unreturned, while also crushing 70 aces. Only 30 per cent of Thiem’s serves have gone unreturned, and he has struck 57 aces.

5) Thiem’s Tie-break Turnaround: Thiem won just four of the first 12 tie-breaks of his Australian Open career. But against Rafael Nadal and Alexander Zverev, he won all five tie-breaks he played to advance to his first hard-court Grand Slam final. Djokovic is 23-14 in tie-breaks at this event, and 3-0 this year.

6) Baseline Battle: Since the first round, when he won just 50 per cent of his baseline points against Struff, Djokovic has won 56.7 per cent of his baseline points, and no less than 53 per cent in a match. Thiem, who has won 53.5 per cent of his baseline points, has only won a combined 48.5 per cent over his past two matches against Nadal and Zverev, including 46.8 per cent against Zverev in the semi-finals.

Points Won At The 2020 Australian Open By Rally Length

7) Four Shots Or Less: The 0-4 shot range consistently proves key in matches, and Djokovic has dominated in that department during this Australian Open. The Serbian has won 57.3 per cent of those points to Thiem’s 53.6 per cent. Djokovic even won this category against Roger Federer, who is known for his serving and first-strike tennis.

8) Nine Or More Shots: While they both have done even better in rallies of nine or more shots than they have in shorter points, that is where Thiem has found his most success. The fifth seed has won an astounding 62.3 per cent of points lasting nine or more shots to Djokovic’s 61.4 per cent. However, Thiem lost more points in that category against Zverev (22) in their semi-final than he did against Gael Monfils (4) and Rafael Nadal (12) combined in the fourth round and quarter-finals, respectively.

9) Net Rushers: Both Djokovic and Thiem have been extremely successful of late when coming to net. Djokovic has won 21 of 23 net points in past two matches, while Thiem was successful on 23 of 27 trips forward against Zverev in the last four.

10) Melbourne History: Four of the past 10 Australian Open champions have played the first semi-final, while six have played their semi-final following day. Djokovic defeated six-time champion Federer on Thursday, and Thiem ousted 2018 Nitto ATP Finals titlist Zverev on Friday.

– Statistical research contributed by Leo Levin.