Defeating Roger Federer after tough period was great, says Thiem
In an interview, Dominic Thiem commented on the top French Open favourites. "For me, Rafa is always going to be the No. 1 contender, closely followed by Novak [Djokovic] now because he's at his best again right before the French Open. Then there's another group of four, five, six players which I think also can win almost every week a big title."
"If I see my results from the last years on clay, they are very, very good ... Roland Garros, semis, semis, finals. I know how tough it is to get to these deep stages. I'm trying to stay relaxed ... tell myself that I am tough to beat on this surface, and if I am 100 per cent and fully pumped, it's difficult to beat me. That's how I try to approach these tournaments."
On his win over Roger Federer in March, Thiem concluded: "Indian Wells was just amazing because I came from a very tough period, I'd just split up with my coach, so everything came together. I somehow freed myself and won the tournament, somehow. I didn't know why that happened, that was amazing, my first [Masters] 1000 title, I didn't expect it. In Barcelona, I really played well the weeks before, I beat five very strong opponents, so I think that the title was a little bit different. But in general, I'm playing very well. It was lucky, not really planned, but it worked out very good from the first moment. [Massu] knows a lot about tennis so he can give me advice about anything. His favourite surface was clay, but his biggest success came on the faster hard court so he can help me a lot with the transition there. He's also not that old. He played against many guys I'm facing now, and he can give me really good advice for the opponents I face."
In the same time, Thiem admitted that beating Rafael Nadal will not be easy: "It's still something different to play him in Roland Garros, on the Court Philippe Chatrier, best-of-five, than in any other tournament, best-of-three. Of course, I will try everything to win and maybe beat him there, but it's very tough. I never achieved it, I was pretty far from it until now, so it's time to improve. [But] I think also I'm a better player than last year, so that's what I am counting the most on."
"The three guys who beat him were playing unbelievable. But best-of-five like in Paris is a different beast. It's much harder to sustain that brilliance, physically and mentally. That's the beauty of it."
from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2W1tjZ2
No comments