By Richard Kent, Staff Reporter

NEW YORK — Guess what?

Neither Roger Federer, nor Rafael Nadal, nor Novak Djokovic won the US Open on Sunday. That could be a story in and of itself. After all, they had won the last 13 Grand Slams.

That’s a bunch of years.

Instead, Dominic Thiem defeated his buddy Alexander Zverev 2-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3,7-6.  Zverev served for the match at 5-3 in the fifth set. It was the first time since 1949 that a men’s winner has come back from a two-set deficit.

You remember that Final. Pancho Gonzales defeated Ted Schroeder.    

Thiem was favored to win, but not in his own mind. He felt after the match that only the press had anointed him as the winner. He had plenty of previous experience with Zverev and knew that the match would be a nail biter.    

Thiem had made it to 3 previous Grand Slam finals, only to come up short each time.  The 23-year-old Zverev was disconsolate after the match. It was the first men’s Open Championship to be decided by a tiebreaker.    

Both players will be in Paris this week to prepare for the rescheduled French Open which starts next week.