On Thursday, Dominic Thiem made an appointment with his sponsor Bank Austria to talk about his messed-up tour of Asia. However, the 24-year-old from Lower Austria did not want to go into detail when investigating the causes.
Three appearances, three defeats – Dominic Thiem didn’t leave much to be desired on his trip to the Far East:”It was just weak in Asia, you have to say so,”Austria’s number one at a sponsored event in Vienna.
Thiem, however, would prefer to keep it a secret why things went so badly:”Of course there are one or two reasons for this, but I don’t want to deal with it too much:” His early return to Vienna brings positive aspects as well,”he said before his seventh appearance at the Stadthallen tournament.
Thiem is confident that he will be able to take the wheel again at the upcoming events in Vienna, Paris-Bercy and the O2-Arena of London “His recipe for success is not witchcraft:” Well, I feel fresh now. I just want to play good tennis again, which I have certainly shown too little in the last few tournaments. If I do that, the results will be satisfactory.”
After all, he had qualified for the ATP finals for the second time in a row four weeks before the season finale – with more points than a year ago.
Thiem justified his poor performances in China with a certain dullness:”There was also a lot going on after the US Open with Davis Cup, then Laver Cup. I’ve had rather less time to train, and that may have been reflected in Asia.”
Thiem coach Günther Bresnik became even clearer:”From a sporting point of view it is absurd for him to play such a Davis Cup. But if you allow yourself to be influenced by people’s lack of understanding in such a way that you do things that, in my opinion, are not sensible from a sporting point of view, then pay the price for them again.”
However, Bresnik had no objection to the last harsh criticism of his protégé – “she was justified and never below the belt”.