The Ups and Downs of Dominic Thiem

     It was in the Arthur Ashe Stadium during the 2109 U.S. Open that Dominic Thiem had his down moments. He'd went through four tough sets with Italy's Thomas Fabbiano and bowed after 14 aces served in the opening round. "I was very, very tired after two sets and I'm far away from 100%...It's very tough to win...It is what it is," Thiem said disgustingly during press conference time after the Open loss. He admitted that with all his trying,he still came up short saying "It was not the real me." He'd also come up short at the Shanghai Masters losing in the quarterfinals to Matteo Berrettini. He didn't come up short during the Asian Swing where he battled past Richard Gasquet to Andy Murray, winning the China Open title from Stefanos Tsitsipas.

     It was the Vienna Open that gave Thiem the courage and confidence again in his gamesmanship as he won the title over Diego Schwartzman in three sets. The 2019 season had ended giving Thiem mixed messages as to where and when his game's consistency would appear again. The pattern was there, but not in a good way. He couldn't string a couple of wins in tournaments together and the frustration was growing for the fourth ranked player in the world.

     Tensions had also grown when he hired former ATP player Thomas Muster to join his team. He would start at the ATP World Finals throughout the Australian Open but Thiem couldn't take his coaching style and dismissed him before the Australian Open was over.  Defeating Djokovic at the ATP Finals did a lot for the Austrian's self-confidence and on court Commentator Annabel Croft had said to him that "You seemed like you were int eh zone out there. There were so many special moments, so many ups and downs...what was the key to getting through that tiebreak and holding your nerve?" Thiem admitted that he was always in the zone but his strategies were just powerful enough and Djokovic wasn't on point with many tactics in his game. "Coming back from 1-4 and a little bit of luck here and there..." Thiem said. He had hit 51 winners and said "I had to do something special, I was playing Novak." The Austrian had said he played his game which was offense and it worked for him then. Why doesn't it work consistently is another problem?

     The Australian Open presented Thiem with some tough draw opponents. It was Gael Monfils to Rafael Nadal then Alexander Zverev, to name a few. The Austrian grew confident that if he could defeat all his opponents he would have a great shot at winning over Djokovic. The two guys head to head is 7 for Novak Djokovic and 4 for Thiem. But the match turned in Thiem's favor "Coming back from 1-4 and a little bit of luck here and there..." Thiem said. He had hit 51 winners and he said "I had to do something special, I was playing Novak.

     Dominic Thiem had a difficult draw at the Australian Open with facing Gael Monfils, Rafael Nadal and Alexander Zverev naming a few. It ended its run with Novak Djokovic. He had the confidence going in but Djokovic was too precise and outsmarted Thiem. The opening set went to Djokovic, breaking Thiem's heart and when he'd defeat Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals, he just knew great things were to come. It wasn't. The battle with Djokovic left mental scars and physical exhaustion. Could it have been that Djokovic not only wanted to win the title, but win because he lost to Thiem before? The Austrian was just glad of his accomplishments on defeating not only Monfils but Nadal saying that "I'm really proud of how I stayed in the match after a very tough situation." Despite it all Thiem couldn't win the battle this time with Djokovic and accepted his finalist award. The next tournament would have been the Argentina Open of which Thiem won in 2018. He was forced to withdraw. The Austrian felt obligated to rest himself after a totally exhausting Australian Open to get energy for the Rio Open soon. Hopefully the downward spiral will stop spinning for Thiem as he regroups to become victorious again with future performances.

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2v65SRy