Dominic Thiem returns to the hard courts in Acapulco. At the beginning of the match, I’m against a man who surprised me this year: Cameron Norrie.
When the Spanish and British Davis Cup teams met a few weeks ago at Marbella for their first-round meeting, the main focus of attention was on one man: Kyle Edmund. It was just recently that number two in the UK had entered a semi-final of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time in his career, and the absence of Andy Murray due to injury meant that Edmund would be able to keep his visitors’ chances of winning.
Alone: The efforts in Melbourne, which resulted in a defeat against Marin Cilic, had made Kyle Edmund so successful that it was impossible to imagine a mission against the Spaniards. So Cameron Norrie had to go to the buffet – not a big promise, especially on ashes. But what Norrie, who was born in South Africa and lives in the USA, conjured up in the sand of Marbella was worthy of all honour: On Friday, Norrie Roberto Bautista Agut fought back in five sets, and on Sunday he fought back against Albert Ramos-Vinolas for four rounds.
So Dominic Thiem, whom Cameron Norrie will meet in the first round of Acapulco, should be warned.
Especially as Norrie has played his way into the main draw of the ATP World Tour 500 Tournament over qualifying, exceptionally confidently. Just like a week ago in Delray Beach, where Norrie finished in round one against Hyeon Chung, the other surprise semi-finalists of the Australian Open.
Dominic Thiem, on the other hand, has spent the last few weeks on sand. Pölten, Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro are also scheduled to make a stopover in the southern part of Vienna. Thiem’s last appearance at Hartplatz was the result of the first Grand Slam tournament of the year, where Austria’s number one tenny Sandgren was defeated, having had a similarly good, almost perfect day as Fernando Verdasco in Rio de Janeiro.
Thiel’s memories of Acapulco should be positive, here he won his first tournament in the 500cc category in 2016. The road to a Da Capo will not be easy, with either Kei Nishikori or Denis Shapovalov and then Juan Martin del Potro and in the final round Alexander Zverev waiting potential opponents of quite high quality.
Last year’s Thiem has a quarter-final to defend, which he lost against the later champion Sam Querrey in 2017. The task called Cameron Norrie will certainly be a good indicator of how well Thiem has managed to convert to hard court.