ATP: Dominic Thiem and the Law of the Series

Asia was not worth a visit for Dominic Thiem in 2017.However, Austria’s number one will nevertheless approach its future tasks with great verve, especially at the Erste Bank Open 500 in Vienna.

As a balance sheet for Wednesday in Shanghai, Dominic Thiem has lost a tennis match.This is regrettable in that the professional task of the Austrian is to leave the courts of the tennis world as the winner.On the other hand, the defeat against Viktor Troicki will not have unpleasant consequences in the short term, and after Sam Querrey’s defeat in Shanghai, the qualification for the ATP World Tour finals in London is set for the second time in a row.

A great achievement, which is not diminished by the fact that the fixed Masters greats Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Stan Wawrinka and Kei Nishikori also suffered injuries in 2017.

Guido Pella and Viktor Troicki still have a perfect record against Dominic Thiem after the Asian tour, which is rather regrettable because the Lichtenwörther is simply a better tennis player with more possibilities than the Argentinean or Serbian.The impressions of the last few weeks suggest that Thiem is not really enjoying his profession at the moment.The Lichtenwörther was expected back in Vienna on Thursday evening, coach Günter Bresnik will discuss the next days with his protégé on Friday.The tournament in the Stadthalle counts a lot for Dominic Thiem, not just a little more than a week before the start.

Dominic Thiems, on the other hand, has lost four straight losses in his most recent record, and the crucial point was probably his very first: at the US Open against Juan Martin del Potro.Thiem had made a solid entry into the last sixteen, had managed to take a 2-0 lead over an initially maladic opponent, then slung a round for a long time, but still had the chance to fight Roger Federer.And forgive.Not so much with his match balls, but rather with 5:3 and 30:0 in the fourth set with a somewhat unfortunate stroke selection.

Thiem explained after the end of Flushing Meadows that everything was put to the test.This sounded a bit like Angelique Kerber, who announced a general overhaul of her surroundings in round one after the bankruptcy against Ekaterina Makarova in Paris.The result was the temporary return of Benjamin Ebrahimzadeh, at least for one match.The downward spiral was already too long and powerfully swirling.Dominic Thiem went a little kicking at first, then played in Davis and the Laver Cup, emotional highlights, which may be responsible for the momentary dullness.

Kerber and Thiem whine on a high level, the two-time Major Winner even on highest level.The seventh in the world rankings will be caught up again, the season will come to a solid end, perhaps there will be another spark at the home tournament in Vienna that will ignite the fire in Thiem.The defeat against Troicki at any rate he has confirmed with a well-groomed club disassembly, for which time must also be available.

Because Dominic Thiem is a man who knows how to appreciate himself.In 2016, after his final defeat against Philipp Kohlschreiber, he sat in the press conference in a very good mood, even though a tie-break in the third set decided the outcome of the match and Thiem had every chance of winning.It is quite clear that he also loses games of this kind now and then, as he would have often enough gone off the pitch as the winner of a tight decision.

This is no different in the current campaign: almost forgotten are the games against Grigor Dimitrov in Madrid or Sam Querrey in Rome, which Thiem could have lost.More fresh in our memory, on the other hand, is the defeat against Kevin Anderson in Washington and the defeat of Troicki in Shanghai.All matches that were decided with the highest possible tension: in the tiebreak of the third set.

The good news is that Thiem can make it there even on worse days.And according to the law of the series, the Austrian number one will soon win one of these thrillers.But then!