For Dominic Thiem, the first match of the new season on 27 December 2018 in Abu Dhabi is a special revenge.
Dominic Thiem has finished her holidays together with her friend Kristina Mladenovic in the Maldives. On Wednesday evening, the Frenchwoman and her brother stayed at Prinzenpark in the capital, where their favourite club Paris St. Germain defeated FC Liverpool 2-1 in the Champions League.
The “Dominator” treats himself to a few free days at home after a strenuous season before he returns to training. Thiem will certainly not overestimate it, but his first match of the new season could be a special revenge for the reigning French Open finalist and World Ranking Eighth.
Thiem will meet Karen Khachanov (22) on the first day of the Mubadala World Tennis Championship in Abu Dhabi (27-29 December). The Russian had defeated the 25-year-old Lichtenwörther on his way to the Masters victory in Paris-Bercy in the semi-final 6:4, 6:1. It was the first duel between the two.
The winner of this game will have to face industry leader Novak Djokovic (Serbia) in the “semi-final” of the exhibition, who has a walk-through to start with. So is Rafael Nadal, by the way. The Spanish Roland Garros record champion will be awaited by the winner of the duel between defending champion Kevin Anderson of South Africa and South Korean Hyeon Chung at the Zayed Sports City Centre on 28 December.
Special attention is paid to Nadal’s comeback. The world runner-up hasn’t played a game since the US Open, missed two Masters tournaments and the Nitto ATP finals. In the meantime, “Rafa” had a free joint body removed from the ankle.
In addition to the men, two top stars of the WTA Tour will also be present. Venus Williams has already been confirmed as one of the two actors. Last year Venus’ sister Serena made her comeback in Abu Dhabi after her baby break and lost there to Jelena Ostapenko.