“There’s definitely still a few percent left,” the 29-year-old is sure about his performance in the new year, even if he was satisfied with the progress made recently. “The last three weeks (semi-finals Gijon and Antwerp, round of 16 Vienna, note) were really good and positive – in terms of results, but also how I played through,” said Thiem. “I’m definitely on the right track, even if the last step is still missing. But I want to do that in preparation and at the beginning of next year.”
What he still lacks is, on the one hand, putting away the tough matches, staying close to the opponent. Recently, that hasn’t always been the case. “If I slack off a bit, I’ll get the bill against such an opponent (like Medvedev, note) immediately,” he said after the 3:6 3:6 defeat against Daniil Medvedev. “It has less to do with the last few weeks and more with the fact that I’ve only been playing at this level again since July and appearing on the pitch as necessary. That’s four or five months. That’s not a lot of time, I’m still missing a bit.”
Off for Thiem against Medvedev
Dominic Thiem was the end of the line at the Erste Bank Open on Thursday. The 29-year-old from Lower Austria was beaten in the round of 16 by the number one seeded Russian Daniil Medvedev 3:6 3:6.
Return game is still expandable
On the other hand, as a result of this, he still lacks too much danger as a return player. He has not developed enough break chances in the past few weeks. He had defeated the Pole Hubert Hurkacz in Antwerp, but without once taking the service from the eleventh in the world rankings.
“Of course it costs a lot more substance, playing tie breaks all the time and being under pressure with the serve,” explained Austria’s number one. “I have to play the return games better so that I have a little more peace in my service game.”
It is important for him for the last two months of the year to complete a well-coordinated preparation for the physical and tennis-specific, as he had before his injury – and with the knowledge that 20 additional points were credited at the Australian Open in the main draw to be. “It’s the first chance since the wrist injury to combine that perfectly with fitness and full intensity on the pitch,” said Thiem.
Top 100 should be enough
In addition, there was good news from the ATP side on Sunday. Thiem will have eleven more points credited to his account from the Salzburg Challenger in July. That should fix the top 100. The reason for the subsequent credits is a rule according to which the player who competes after an injury with “protected ranking” can later replace a zero rating in a tournament that would otherwise necessarily remain in the personal point balance with a different result. This primarily affected Indian Wells and now, with Miami, another Masters 1000 event.
At the end of March, Thiem only made his comeback at a Challenger in Marbella parallel to the second week in Miami after his injury break, so this rule could also apply to the Florida event. Austria’s number one will now end the year with 561 points, which puts him in 96th place in the race according to the current status. Whether a few places up or down doesn’t make a big difference for the 2020 US Open winner and doesn’t change his Project for 2023.
ATP 500 tournament in Vienna
(Austria, 2,489,935 euros, hard court/indoor)
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