“I had a few very successful and, above all, educational days in Madrid. The training, the atmosphere and the people were incredible,” Thiem wrote on Instagram. “Of course I wanted to win this match, but the consistency is still missing, which I can get back with a lot of hard work. My team and I know exactly what I need to improve and we will work on it every day. I am and will remain positive. I approach every training session and every match in such a way that I can always learn from my mistakes, so that I can be a step better than yesterday every day.”
“I’m overjoyed that for a few months now I’ve been able to stand on the pitch every day without pain and without hesitation and do what I love.” Thiem was also impressed by the atmosphere. “It was the first really big tournament after the comeback, the first time a really full center court,” he said. “It was wonderful, especially with all the memories I have of the tournament.” Thiem was referring to the four semi-finals and two finals (2017, 2018) in the Spanish capital.
Thiem is defeated by Murray in Madrid
Dominic Thiem has remained without a sense of achievement since his comeback. In Madrid he lost to Andy Murray and slipped far down the world rankings. For the first time in 36 years, no Austrian is among the top 100 players worldwide.
Murray shows understanding
Against the former world number one Murray, who is currently number 78 and played on clay for the first time since October 2020 and celebrated his first win on this surface in five years, it was not enough to achieve a sense of achievement. Thiem failed to convert any of his three break points and committed no fewer than 33 unforced errors, 24 of them with the forehand. “What was to be expected happened, unfortunately an early defeat,” said Thiem afterwards. “But I’ll make sure that I keep working and that I’ll be at 100 percent again next year in Madrid.”
Despite the clear conditions on the pitch, Murray encouraged his opponent. “He always serves well, has a fantastic kick serve and he hit the ball very well with his backhand. He also moves very well. But injuries like that are not easy, I had wrist problems myself – I think it was 2007. It’s difficult when you want to come back there. The pain you feel after the injury is difficult to get out of your head. Then when the ball is flat and you know you have to use your wrist, or even when it’s coming up fast and up, those shots were inconsistent.”
Thiem was happy about the Scot’s encouragement. “It was very nice what he said on the net. And those words are even more valuable from someone like him because he really has been through a long recovery process. He’s a real role model coming back from his hip injury.”
Farewell to the top 100
With the first round defeat, the top 100 in the world rankings for Thiem are history for the time being. Next Monday he will drop out of the top 100 players for the first time since March 3, 2014. This means that there are no longer any Austrians represented there. That hasn’t happened in over 36 years. Most recently, on April 28, 1986, Thomas Muster was the best Austrian in 119th place. That was before the Styrian climbed to first place.
After that, there were always ÖTV players in the top 100 alongside him and Thiem, including Jürgen Melzer (eighth place as best place), Gilbert Schaller (17th), Horst Skoff (18th), Stefan Koubek (20th), Alexander Antonitsch (40th) and Andreas Haider-Maurer (47th). A total of 18 Austrians, before the times of Muster and Co. such as Peter Feigl (40./1979) and Hans Kary (54./1976), have been in the top 100 so far.
Thiem, who has a protected ranking of sixth at the time of the injury in June 2021, will find himself around 160 next week. Due to the protected status and with wildcards thanks to his successes (US Open winner 2020, four-time major finalist), the Lower Austrian will save himself from qualifying in the near future. However, he already has very strong opponents from round one because he is not seeded. Not even with the clay court major from May 22nd in Paris, where, like in Madrid, he has four semifinals and two finals.
Not much time until Paris
It is currently rather unlikely that Thiem will create a clear upward trend by then. He still needs time, but that is already running out before Paris. The next Masters 1000 event is scheduled for next week in Rome, followed by the tournament in Geneva immediately before the major on the Seine. Thiem himself had emphasized that he wanted to achieve “at least an attractive form” by Paris, but he knew it was a long way back. “I have to make sure that I spend a lot of hours on the pitch. That’s the most important. A few more days here in Madrid and then to Rome, where I’ll make my next attempt.”
ATP 1000 tournament in Madrid
(Spain, €6,575,560, clay court)
