It was going to be hard for tennis power couple Dominic Thiem and Kristina Mladenovic to trump Roland Garros for their most memorable week of 2019 — but they've arguably done it.
Thiem finished runner-up to Rafael Nadal at this year's French Open while Mladenovic secured the number one rankingin doubles by winning alongside Timea Babos.
But what they've done in the span of the past six days is as good as any tennis lovebirds have managed since Lleyton Hewitt, 22, and Kim Clijsters, 19, won the men's and women's titles at Indian Wells in 2003.
Mladenovic got the ball rolling by ripping Australia's heart out at the Fed Cup final in Perth last weekend.
She almost single-handedly ended local hopes of ending a 45-year drought in the competition by smoking Ajla Tomljanovic 6-1 6-1, upsetting world number one Ash Barty 2-6 6-4 7-6 and then combining with Caroline Garcia to win the doubles.
"I took it like a grand slam final," said Mladenovic of her win against Barty. "When I beat her in Rome just before she won Roland Garros, it was special. But there were not 15,000 people. She wasn't No. 1.
"The level we played was exceptional ... 7-6 against Ash Barty in front of such a crowd, it's one of the biggest moments of my career."
Thiem wasn't in attendance as he prepared for the season-ending ATP Finals in London — the most important men's tournament outside of the grand slams which pits the eight highest-ranked players in the world off against each other in round-robin play.
But he's sure seemed inspired by his girlfriend's play in the opening days of the competition, knocking off Roger Federer 7-5 7-5 before trumping Novak Djokovic 6-7 6-3 7-6 to book his place in the last four.
Djokovic was in awe of the Austrian's aggression. "I don't think I have experienced too many matches like this where my opponent just goes for every single shot," Djokovic said.
"He was unbelievable, and in some stages it was just incredible that he was just literally smacking the ball as hard as he could and (it) was going in."
"He was taking every opportunity to smack the ball as hard as he could. Flatten it out, backhand down the line. He didn't miss too many backhands down the line, really. It was amazing. I have played him before. I know his game. But what he did tonight was just out of the ordinary. I know that he can play in a high level, but tonight was just phenomenal."
Dominic Thiem. Photo / AP
Thiem, 26, and Mladenovic, 26, started dating in 2017 after she asked him for a warm-up hit in practice.
They have a long way to go to reach the heights of tennis' ultimate partnership — Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf — but this week was a good start.
Over the last three days, the Mladenovic-Thiem household defeated:
— A world No.1 (Barty) — A world No.2 (Djokovic) — A world No.3 (Federer)
Best showing from a tennis couple since Graf and Agassi won Roland-Garros 1999 on consecutive days? 💞
