Third semi-final for Dominic Thiem in Paris, this time with the first Major finals. The 24-year-old from Lichtenwörth has already developed a routine for this on his days off.
By Jens Huiber from Paris
Dominic Thiem was allowed to give six press conferences in the days of Paris, the 24-year-old from Lichtenwörth is aiming for two more. Thiem had to illustrate his success in Lyon before he entered the tournament, then his success in matches against his fellow sportsmen Ivashka, Tsitsipas, Berrettini, Nishikori and Zverev.
As with most players, Dominic Thiem’s mother tongue part differs significantly from the international part. The latter has nevertheless brought some interesting insights, even though the friendly ties between Jonathan Pinfield, the eloquent gentleman from Yorkshire, and Thiem are far less close than those that Pinfield maintains with Alexander Zverev.
“Finally”, so Thiem spoke after his success against Matteo Berrettini, finally someone asks for his forehand. Despite his love for his backhand, this is of course the stroke with which the Lower Austrian scores his points. Against Zverev, it was above all the angles that made things difficult for the German.
For Nishikori, Günter Bresnik and Thiem had considered the “more trajectory” variant, classic driving strokes could not harm the Japanese.
Dominic Thiem lives in Paris with his girlfriend Kristina Mladenovic, but has probably spent the same amount of time with Elie Rousset. He deserves to be a hitting partner these days, without a gender view by the way. On Wednesday, Rousset, a 28-year-old Frenchman on Court 4 with Sloane Stephens, before moving on to the legendary 3rd place in a house.
Marco Cecchinato, who wants to prevent Thiem’s first entry into a Grand Slam final, had already taken the opportunity to get to know the Court Philippe Chatrier for the first time this morning.
Checchinato also offers a shapely one-handed backhand, Dominic Thiem met a similar one in round two in the form of Stefanos Tsitsipa. Perhaps the future belongs to the Greek, the Italian almost blocked his 2015. The tiresome story of a possible game manipulation is by no means overlooked, it is quite possible that the Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU) of the World Association is currently working on the case.
On Friday this will be a minor matter, no question. Despite Cecchinato’s amazing success against Pablo Carreno-Busta, David Goffin and most recently Novak Djokovic, Dominic Thiem enters his third semi-final in Roland Garros as the favourite. Because Thiem also said this before the tournament began: “The best-of-five format suits him against most of his opponents here. Marco Cecchinato is one of them.
Here are Dominic Thiem’s matches at the French Open 2018