Thomas Muster: I Have Been Working with Dominic Thiem Since Vienna

Former World No. 1 Thomas Muster has denied reports in the media that he was fired after 16 days of working with Austria's top player Dominic Thiem.

Speaking to the Austrian media, the 52 year old says he had been working with the Thiem team in the background since the end of last season. "After the request of the Thiem family, I've been pulling the strings in the background since September 2019. So I wasn't fired after 16 days, as could be read. The collaboration was initially secret, so as not to generate any media theater, especially not before the home tournament in Vienna in October."

Muster says after they began working behind the scenes, Thiem won the Vienna event for the first time and also scored wins over Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer to reach the finals at the season-ending ATP Finals in London. In January he also reached the finals of the Australian Open - the first time he has reached the final in a Grand Slam on a hard court. "A badly prepared player would never have been able to do this."

After the split with Thiem, Muster had told the media, "There are houses with beautiful, indeed with wonderful facades. But you very rarely know who lives inside." And the Austrian says he stands by what he had said earlier. "I stand by what I said, I didn't go wrong in my choice of words. Put in good German: You just can't look into anyone."

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