Thiem had felt good again after his opening at the tournament in Lyon against the Briton Cameron Norrie and had trained very well again in the last few days before Paris. “Today, just like in Lyon, everything was simply not good enough. A few percent were missing in all parts of my game. Forehand disaster, backhand disaster, everything cramped, not relaxed enough. First serve too cramped, so the percentage is missing, and a few km / h are missing ”, Thiem analyzed in relation to the APA.
In general, he played way too defensively. “I fell back into really bad patterns today,” said the 27-year-old. Against Andujar he could not show his real self that day. “That was not the version of me that is capable of playing big titles,” said Thiem, who failed in round one for the first time in the eighth appearance at Roland Garros. Most recently, he was eliminated from one of the majors at the 2019 US Open.
Recklessly awarded breakball “a disaster”
The game started according to the program. Thiem did not shine, but was able to win the first two sentences relatively safely. With an unnecessary loss of service at the end of the third set, the game turned in favor of the Spaniard. During the world rankings 68. became more and more constant, Thiem became more and more error-prone. “It is shocking to me that this is happening in Paris. I was as far away from that as I can play ”, the Austrian quarreled.
Thiem disappointed with Paris-Aus
For the first time in his career, Dominic Thiem ended up in round one at the French Open in Paris. The disappointment with the fourth in the world rankings was correspondingly great.
Although frustrated, Thiem wanted to stand up again in the fifth sentence. The Austrian even had the chance to set the course for victory. When the score was 2: 1, he earned a breakball, but forgave it lightly. “That was a reflection of the whole performance. To play a return with the forehand on a slow second serve out is a disaster on this level. That should never happen in this situation, ”said the 27-year-old annoyed.
Further season planning open
While Andujar was positively shocked after his first win over a top five player, Thiem’s mixed season continued. The Austrian had been eliminated as last year’s finalist at the Australian Open in the round of 16 and came to Paris without a tournament win and only a 9: 7 victory record. How things will go on with Thiem or when he will start the lawn season, he does not yet know himself. “I have no idea yet, have to think about the lawn season. Then I’ll decide whether I might tackle this sooner. Now I have to digest the defeat for a moment. “
Things have not been going smoothly for Thiem since the triumph at the US Open on September 13, 2020. Other tennis greats in the past such as Pete Sampras or Mats Wilander had also felt the same way after great successes. Having achieved the big goal, a slack ensued. “I think Novak (Djokovic) struggled on a different level after winning here in 2016 too. It is great to achieve such a big goal, but at the same time something is different afterwards. It’s a learning curve. Despite the defeat, which hurts a lot, I hope that I can come back stronger than before, ”said Thiem.
“I’m still looking for a recipe”
What he needs are matches, and of course victories to increase his self-confidence. It doesn’t matter that Thiem has not had any direct duels with top ten players for a long time. “Before Indian Wells 2019, I didn’t play against any of the top ten players for a really long time and then I came back really strong. I have not succeeded in doing that now. I’m still looking for a recipe. “
His way back? “A mixture of a lot of training and also matches so that I can get back to my best form.” The fact that the grass season is coming up may not necessarily be helpful. However, the successful French Open appearances in the past few years required a certain amount of breathing in the short grass season.
He has already proven that Thiem can also play excellently on grass: in 2016 he was the only Austrian to date to win an ATP lawn title in Stuttgart, and in 2017 Wimbledon could have gone further than the round of 16. At that time he failed in the round of the last 16 in five sets to Tomas Berdych. Thiem did not name the tournament in Stuttgart, which will take place in the second week of the French Open this year due to the coronavirus pandemic. He may now change his mind.
