Full mail, use until you drop and no compromises: Dominic Thiem is always at the limit – and will play his buddy Sascha Zverev in the quarter-finals of Paris tomorrow.
He can’t help it. He must and always wants to give 100 percent. And when he swirls around on one of the big Centre Courts, then you also experience him in this pose, in his parade role: as the hardest worker who plays every single point, as if it were the last in his life. He fights to the death.
“I don’t compromise. I always play at my limit,” says Dominic Thiem, the 24-year-old from Lower Austria. He established himself among the world’s top players early on, ahead of all others from the generation between 20 and 25 in world tennis – and for the third year in a row he also plays an important, leading role at the French Open.
On Tuesday the fervent fighter from Austria could now also become the French Open spoilsportsman for his friend Alexander Zverev (21), in the quarter-finals the buddies will meet again. It could be the most exciting, suspenseful match at this championship yet, although Zverev has already proven to be a specialist in all kinds of drama and excitement over the full distance of five sets – with three chases to catch up after a 1:2 deficit.
“He should be a little tired,” says Thiem. But the subjunctive betrays respect for the esteemed companion: Who knows what reserves this Zverev can still mobilize at the finish of the Grand Slam spectacle, what turns and turns he can once again stage in his matches. “I’m ready for anything with him,” says Thiem.
But this is also true for Zverev, of course. Because especially in the red sand of Paris, Thiem feels he is on familiar ground of success. After all, he was the only player to stand up to the big and established in the last two years. In 2016 and 2017, he reached the semi-finals, losing to permanent champion Rafael Nadal twelve months ago.
But even to him, the Majorcan matador, he could frighten and frighten elsewhere. A good three weeks ago he defeated Nadal for the second time on clay, this victory could hardly have been more prestigious, at the Masters in Madrid. In the final, however, he lost against Zverev, unexpectedly clearly in two sets.
Thiem manages against Nadal – and not only against him – the trick to beat the ball much harder and more dynamically than the opponent. When he beat the ten-time French Open Champion in Rome in 2016, his balls were on average 20 kilometres per hour faster than Nadal’s.
Thiem is not a case for the aesthetic, for the filigree, but for power with precision. Ultimately, this is how he made his name in the travelling circus: He always does his missions with power and force, almost with elemental force. “Full Post” is the defining term for the life’s work that Thiem and his manager and trainer Günter Bresnik have developed.
In a preface to Bresnik’s book “The Dominic-Thiem-Method. Success against every rule” wrote Thiem: “Full mail! That meant: Hit every ball with all your might. For hours.”
Thiem liked to go the long, difficult way with Bresnik – the man who also once served Boris Becker a quarter of a century ago. In his own estimation, he owes the fact that he has already been ranked 4th in the world ranking and regularly competed with the best sand court players in the world to the massive practice programme to which he submitted himself on Bresnik’s instructions.
“I’ve done more than 99 percent of the other players,” says Thiem, “I’ve subordinated my life to tennis since I switched to Günter.” That was at the age of twelve, and from then on things kept on going uphill for the Viennese.
And for Coach Bresnik, who set the motto for the sporting partnership as follows: “We work more. And we work right, smart. Only in this way can good come into being.” For Thiem Bresnik is a fatherly companion similar to Zverev’s real father – Alexander senior.
Thiem has spent quite relaxed days at this French Open so far. He lives with his girlfriend, the French professional player Kiki Mladenovic, he has no stress in shuttle cars, in the capital’s eternal traffic jam theatre. Even at work in the red sand the effort was still limited, the Lichtenwörther had to work three times already over four sentences, but he never got into similar predouille as friend Zverev. He played a good two hours less than Zverev.
Thiem enters the big match with respect, but also with a bit of self-confidence. Also because he knows that he can play out his outstanding physique best in that phase of the season which is marked by slide exercises in the red sand. “If you know that you can still take the extra route after many hours, that’s simply a good feeling,” says Thiem, “that creates security.