Wimbledon: Dominic Thiem must give up injured in first round

Unlucky Dominic Thiem failed at his first hurdle in Wimbledon. The French Open finalist had to give up against 33-year-old Marcos Baghdatis (Cyprus) at 4:6, 5:7, 0:2. For Thiem, who was seeded in seventh place, it was the earliest elimination from a Grand Slam since January 2015 at the Australian Open.

By Ulrike Weinrich from Wimbledon

Thiem took a medical time-out after the second set and was treated in the back area. Already before he had not seemed fit and had too often left the initiative to the blatant outsider Baghdatis on the sun-drenched Court 2.

Against the 95th World Ranking, who had reached the Wimbledon semi-final in 2006 and was already number eight in the world over a decade ago, Thiem was unable to break even four weeks after his biggest success to date in Paris.

That the lush green would become a dangerous course for the “Dominator” on this day was already apparent in the sixth game of the first set when the Lichtenwörther slipped on the baseline. But the thumbs up in the direction of Baghdatis signaled: “It’s okay!”

To the regret of his coach Günter Bresnik, Thiem never found his way to his game. With a clever challenge, the experienced Cypriot came to the first break (4:3), Thiem helped with a completely torn backhand in his first set point.

Baghdatis laid the foundation stone for winning the second round when he took the service to his own 6:5 lead from the visibly battered favourite. And this with a turf-compliant game. First stop ball, then volley.

Shortly after another break Thiem pulled the rip cord and gave up with a heavy heart. On Tuesday morning Austria’s number one had taken on Court 13 of Aorangi Park with David Goffin – and was replaced by the Frenchman Lucas Pouille, who has to play Thiem buddy Dennis Novak in the second round on Wednesday. It was supposed to be a good omen – but it wasn’t.

Thiem had previously demonstrated his qualities on a “different” green lawn. He earned top marks last weekend with a croquet on the terrace in sight of the most famous Centre Court in the tennis universe. With a classic blue slider cap, the “Dominator” also cut a good figure visually.

Thiem immediately managed to manoeuvre the ball through the U-shaped metal goals with the typical hammer bat and in a given order. The seventh in the world rankings was more successful than, for example, his British colleague Andy Murray or sand court king Rafael Nadal from Spain.

Baghdatis caused a sensation not only by his participation in the Australian Open 2006, but also by his outburst Down Under. In 2012, he smashed a total of four of his rackets during the qualifying match against Stan Wawrinka (Switzerland). The “meltdown” of the ball virtuoso became a viral hit.

Here the single tableau in Wimbledon