Davis Cup: Dominic Thiem not in the squad against Belarus

Dominic Thiem does not appear to be in the squad of the Austrian Davis Cup team for the meeting with Belarus in St. Gallen at the beginning of February. Wiped clean.

Austria’s number one will be missing at the start of the Davis Cup year 2018: Dominic Thiem needs time to regenerate after his start of the season. As a result, the balance of power in the duel with Belarus has shifted – even though the prospects for the hosts in the Lower Austrian capital on sand are still positive.

Captain Stefan Koubek had to announce his five-man squad at the ITF on Tuesday afternoon. The Carinthian relies on Gerald Melzer, Sebastian Ofner, Dennis Novak and the double specialists Oliver Marach and Philipp Oswald. Koubek responded to Dominic Thiem’s coach Günter Bresnik’s desire not to nominate fifth in the world rankings, who has reached the eighth-finals at the Australian Open in Melbourne, as he needs a break to regenerate after surviving illness and the strains of the past few weeks. However, Koubek does not give up hope completely:”I am allowed to exchange two people until one hour before the official draw and I will have some more conversations with Günter Bresnik. You never know what’s gonna happen before then.”

The aftermath of the disease that hit Thiem in Doha in particular necessitates a break for the 24-year-old before the start of his South American tour. Thiem has named for the clay court tournaments in Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro (where he defends the title), then for the events in Acapulco, Indian Wells and Miami. At the Australian Open, Thiem had to go twice over the full distance: He was able to catch up with Dennis Kudla in a two-set deficit, and then lost to Tennys Sandgren in the last sixteen.

Last year, Thiem represented the red-white-red colours at last year’s relegation match in Wels, immediately after the US Open.