ATP: Dominic Thiem is ready for the Stadthallen Tournament

For Dominic Thiem, the draw at the ATP-500 tournament in Vienna was anything but as desired. The top-seeded Austrian first meets Richard Gasquet, who defeated him last year in the Stadthalle. After that a duel with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga or Sam Querrey could wait.

Nevertheless, the Lichtenwörther is quite optimistic before his home tournament in an interview with the courier: “I feel very well”. This has not been the case in recent years due to the poor performance in the run-up to the tournament.

This year Thiem probably played the best tennis of his career at the US Open and failed in five sets against world number one Rafael Nadal. “I took a good feeling with me despite the defeat.”

The 25-year-old was also able to transport this to St. Peterburg. Thiem won the third title of the year in the Russian metropolis, but he failed in the second round of the Masters 1000 tournament in Shanghai against Australian Matthew Ebden.

For coach Günter Bresnik this was a completely unexpected defeat. “In Shanghai, he played so well in the previous training sessions that I expected something there. And he really didn’t play well against Ebden.”

In general, Bresnik is not completely satisfied with the performances at the 1000cc tournaments in particular. Except for the final in Madrid, Thiem did not always play at the desired level. “He actually played two thirds of the year far below his potential,” says Bresnik.

His protégé looks the same. “I could have gotten more out of it.” Nevertheless, Thiem is happy about the current season: “I can be satisfied with the Grand Slam tournaments. In principle, with the whole season as well, I have very good cards to be in the ATP final for the third time in a row.”

But they don’t always agree. The same goes for the Davis Cup. While the application for Bresnik is “dead” as a result of the reform, Thiem can take a positive view of the change. For the 25-year-old, however, the contrary positions are not a problem at all.

“The important thing is that we want the same thing in training,” says Thiem. There Bresnik sets the tone, because he “simply knows tennis better”. On the pitch he would have to make his own decisions anyway.

Make decisions. Thiem also does this very consciously when it comes to animal welfare and the environment. Again and again it can be seen on his social media channels that the right-hander worries about more than the perfect meeting point of the ball. “For me, these are the most important topics besides tennis,” explains the Lower Austrian.

“The world is at a critical juncture. People who are in the public eye can make a contribution. I’m definitely trying my best,” Thiem adds in the courier interview. But he doesn’t want to become too political: “I can’t do anything with politics in general.”

Thiem will also give his best in the fight for a ticket to the ATP finals in London. With Juan Martin del Potro likely to be out for the year-end tournament due to a knee injury, the trio of Dominic Thiem, Kei Nishikori and John Isner will be deciding the two available starting places.

Interesting: All three players will serve in Vienna, in the quarter-finals it could even come to a direct duel between Thiem and Nishikori. Isner can be found on the other side of the tableau. So there is always enough voltage available.

Here you can find all information about the draw of the Erste Bank Open