French Open: Dominic Thiem against Kei Nishikori for third major quarter-finals

Dominic Thiem has now reached seven round of 16 in a row at Grand Slam tournaments, which is why this is nothing special for the eighth in the world rankings. If the 24-year-old from Lower Austria also wants to reach his third major quarter-final on Sunday, again in Paris, then he has to unpack his best tennis against Kei Nishikori (second match after 11 am on the Center Court).

Whether it is the praise or also the favourite position, which gives him for example a Boris Becker for the third duel with the former US Open finalist, or the performances shown so far. Thiem knows that the task against the Japanese returned after an injury is very difficult.

“All that won’t count for anything tomorrow. It will be a tough’best of five’ match. I think the chances are very balanced,” said Thiem after a training session on Saturday.

Thiem is hot for more, even the major defeats in the round of 16 at Wimbledon (against Tomas Berdych), the US Open (Juan Martin Del Potro) and most recently at the Australian Open (Tennys Sandgren) are still in his stomach. In all three matches he had had great opportunities to finally make it to the Grand Slam quarter-finals on hard court or grass.

“For me, the tournament starts now. Now comes the really big opponents, the rounds where you want to go,” said Thiem. He is now in the eighth-finals, his ninth overall, no longer particularly concerned.

“A year or two ago it was still a big deal, but now I definitely want to get ahead. In Australia it was a big disappointment how I went out, tomorrow it would be the same again. Of course, only victory counts, especially in Paris, which is one of the biggest highlights of the year for me, so a round of 16 would not be enough”.

The match plan against the extremely fit, strong Nishikori is clear. “He won’t stay behind the baseline now, he’ll go into the square. My goal is to push back into him a little bit from the baseline.” Nishikori, who admires Thiem’s one-handed backhand, knows how to appreciate Thiem.

“He played great last week and beat Rafa. He can remain a very dangerous player. I think it’s even tougher on him on sand.” Both players do not want to overestimate the last duel two years ago in Rome, after all, both would have developed further since then.

“The first time was on grass, I’ve never won a match on grass before and two years ago in Rome: that was fine, he played very well and was top ten at the time,” Thiem recalled the two defeats. He believes that Nishikori is “one hundred percent on his way back” after his wrist injury. The Japanese is still ATP-21.

Nishikori is an absolute superstar in the “Land of Smiles”. In addition to MLB stars Shohei Otani and Yu Darvish, who may be even higher in baseball than crazy Japan, and two-time Olympic figure skating champion Yuzuru Hanyu, the tennis star is definitely in the top five – and a multimillionaire. Forbes estimated his annual earnings at the end of 2017 at 33.9 million dollars – as in the previous year.

Nishikori is also to become one of the visual ambassadors for the Olympic Games 2020. His assets should already be in the three-digit million range, which he has invested in shares, real estate and restaurants, among other things. As the first Asian player to reach a Grand Slam final (2014 US Open), he has triggered a flood of sponsor requests.

Fans of Nishikori can for example drive their own Kei Edition of Jaguar or eat Nishikori noodles from Nissin. Travelers of the Japanese airlines can even fly in a plane with a huge Nishikori portrait (JetKei).

Thanks to Michael Chang, who joined his coaching staff in 2013 and disenchanted Ivan Lendl in the 1989 final of the French Open, Nishikori has also shed some of the typical Japanese courtesy on the court. Toughness, great return and “super legs” (Bresnik) make Nishikori a dangerous opponent.

Thiem coach Günter Bresnik hopes that Thiem will present himself in the same way as before: “Extremely aggressive and determined. Maybe a little bit too stubborn, but basically that’s exactly what a player who’s number 8 should do when he knows exactly what he wants.”

Since Saturday it has also been determined who could become a possible opponent of Thiem in the quarter-finals alongside the numbered Alexander Zverev (GER). Haider-Maurer-conqueror Karen Khachanov (RUS) defeated Lucas Pouille (FRA-15) in three sets.