ATP Finals: H2H advantage at Thiem, Momentum at Dimitrov

Dominic Thiem is ahead of his opening opponent Grigor Dimitrov in terms of experience – the Bulgarian player has played better and fresher tennis lately.

By Florian Goosmann from London

Actually, everything looked quite normal on the training schedules of those days. Everyone trained a little bit with everyone, in doubt not necessarily with the next opponent, but otherwise… Alexander Zverev took on Jack Sock, substitute Pablo Carreno Busta and Rafael Nadal, for example, and Dominic Thiem, David Goffin and youngster Miomir Kecmanovic, among others. Also on the schedule was “Thiem + Murray”.

Jamie Murray is actually in London in the doubles, but when you have a closer look, the more prominent surprise guest came up: Andy Murray. The injured last year’s winner is back in the shot again, after last week’s show fight against Federer, now a side trip to the o2-arena.

While Murray is preparing for the trip to Australia, Dominic Thiem has to find a conciliatory year-end. Only two victories from the last seven games after the US Open are in his balance sheet, one of the reasons for this being an initial secret injury, which almost led to a Paris cancellation. Thiem played nevertheless, won a match against Peter Gojowczyk and then lost to Fernando Verdasco.

The injury is now known as open wounds between the toes,”not pleasant when you have to run all the time,”says Thiem. But he has it under control, the tennis-free time after London should do the rest.

Thiem has mixed memories of London. Last year’s victory over Gael Monfils, a defeat against Milos Raonic and another bitter defeat against Novak Djokovic, followed by a highly competitive first set, 7:6 (10), 0:6,2:6 was the final score in 2016.

Thiem has the advantage over Grigor Dimitrov in terms of experience. He confessed in the press round last year that he had been nervous – the premiere nerves should belong to the Bulgarian this year, but he seemed relaxed and simply happy.

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In a direct comparison, Thiem leads 2-1, he won in 2016 in Acapulco (on hard court); this year Dimitrov won first in his strong start of the season in Brisbane (on hard court) and this year Dimitrov won in Madrid with a gossamer thin 4:6,6:4,7:6 (9) (on sand). In the hall it is the first meeting of the two, Dimitrov is considered to be the favourite after the last performances, a semi-final in Beijing, a quarter-finals in Shanghai and the final in Stockholm are on his list; in Paris he lost to John Isner in the last sixteen.

“I’m looking forward to the match, it’s just great to be here in the final rounds against top players. I just want to play my game,”said Dimitrov, referring to his prelude:”Of course it feels different because I’m here for the first time. I think it’s gonna be a great game.”