In this strangest of years, the past fortnight at Flushing Meadows has been deeply unusual – but has also been frequently gripping, with drama aplenty. And at the end of it all, after an extraordinary men’s final on Sunday, it is Dominic Thiem who leaves New York as the sport’s newest Grand Slam champion.

It was a historic win. Not just because Thiem becomes the 150th different player to win a Grand Slam singles title, nor because he is the first new major winner in the men’s game for six years, nor even because he is just the second Grand Slam singles champion to emerge from Austria, after 1995 Roland Garros champion Thomas Muster. It was the manner in which the victory was achieved and how unlikely it seemed after the first two sets of this final.

Thiem recorded a 2-6 4-6 6-4 6-3 7-6(6) win over Alexander Zverev to become the first man to come from 0-2 down to win in a US Open final since Pancho Gonzales recovered to defeat Ted Schroeder in 1949. It was also the first time that any player had recovered from 0-2 down in a Grand Slam final since Gaston Gaudio’s triumph over Guillermo Coria in the title match at Roland Garros in 2004.

“Definitely I achieved a life goal, a dream of myself, which I had for many, many years,” Thiem said afterwards. “Of course, as a kid, as well, when I started to play tennis. But back then it's so far away. Then I got closer and closer to the top. At one point I realized that, Wow, maybe one day I can really win one of the four biggest titles in tennis.

“I put a lot of work in. I mean, I dedicated basically my whole life until this point to win one of the four majors. Now I did it. That's also for myself a great accomplishment.”

Zverev had noted the importance of a quick start in his pre-match interview, but even he may have been surprised to be 6-2 5-1 ahead with barely an hour on the clock, having played some scintillating tennis. Thiem managed to reduce the deficit in the second set, but could not stop the German from taking a two-set lead.

History may have been stacked against him, but perhaps any pressure Thiem had felt as the pre-match favourite had now lifted. If the Austrian was still hampered by the leg injury picked up in his semi-final win over Daniil Medvedev, it no longer showed. He stuck with Zverev throughout the third and fourth sets, snatching a break late in both to even things up and force a decider.

It seemed as though the caginess that had characterised some of the earlier exchanges was gone, with both men striking the ball confidently and cleanly. But with the prize on offer so great, there was bound to be a few tense moments ahead. Zverev took advantage of a couple of loose ground strokes from Thiem to give himself a chance to serve for the title at 5-4, but a handful of untimely errors allowed the Austrian a route back in.

At 5-5, Thiem nosed ahead in Zverev’s service game, and broke once more when Zverev fired long at the end of an 18-shot rally. But the German proved his resilience to break back when Thiem served for the title, ensuring a showdown in the tiebreak.

The drama was not over. Thiem overcame an early mini-break, before earning two championship points. He could not take either, but engineered a third, which he took when Zverev skewed a backhand wide.

Thiem sank to the ground, the sport’s newest champion, and a worthy one at that.

“I think it didn't help me at all because I was so tight in the beginning,” Thiem said when asked whether his previous Grand Slam final experience had been a help or a hindrance. “I mean, I wanted this title so much, and of course there was also in my head that if I lose this one, it's 0-4. It's always in your head. Is this chance ever coming back again? All these thoughts are not great to play your best tennis, to play free.

“That's what exactly happened in the beginning. Luckily then things changed in the third set. At the end it was a completely open match, 50/50. I think the experience didn't mean that much today.”

For all Thiem’s early nervousness, Zverev’s performance in the opening two sets should not be go unappreciated. The German’s level at the beginning of this match was the best it has been throughout his time in New York.

“Obviously being two sets to love and a break up in a Grand Slam final then losing is not easy,” he analysed later. “The match turned when he broke me I think for the first time in the third set. I think he started playing much better and I started playing much worse. That's when the match turned. But I still had plenty of chances after that.”

Still, despite the pain of this defeat, Zverev remained confident in the outlook for his career as a whole.

“I'm 23 years old. I don't think it's my last chance,” he said. “I do believe that I will be a Grand Slam champion at some point.”

His time may indeed come. Unusually for a US Open runner-up, he will have another chance at Grand Slam glory this year, with the rearranged Roland Garros just around the corner.

The clay of Paris was previously where Thiem had enjoyed most of his major success – and having finished runner-up to Rafael Nadal for the last two years, much attention will be on whether he is able to go one better this time.

“With this goal achieved, I hope that I'm going to be a little bit more relaxed and play a little bit more freely at the biggest events,” Thiem said.

If he manages to replicate the best of his performances from the past fortnight, then he has a real chance of taking his Grand Slam title tally from zero to two in the space of just a few weeks.