Coach Nicolas Massu: I see bright future for Dominic Thiem, he can win more

Coach Nicolas Massu has accomplished his goal of helping Dominic Thiem improve on the hard courts and now he is hoping that the Austrian's game on the grass courts will also get better. 

Massu has been a member of Thiem's coaching staff since 2019 February and their collaboration has been nothing but success so far. 

Shortly after appointing Massu as his coach, Thiem made the French Open final, in which he was beaten by Spaniard Rafael Nadal.

Then earlier this year, Thiem made his maiden Grand Slam hard-court final as he ended runner-up to world No. 1 Novak Djokovic in a tight five-set Australian Open final. 

Many expected Thiem to claim his maiden Grand Slam title at the French Open but that wasn't the case as the Austrian earned his maiden Major title at this past US Open. 

World No. 3 Thiem recovered from two sets in the US Open final to beat top-ranked German Alexander Zverev.

"One of the goals was to improve his hard-court results, and nowadays I don't know if he has better results on clay or hard,” Massu acknowledged, per the ITF website. “He has a great level on both surfaces – but we need to improve on grass.

“He is a talented player and a very hard worker. He is very young, so I see a bright future. He knows he can win more. I hope in the new season he can continue playing solid tennis.”

Massu wanted to write his name in tennis history 

At the 2004 Athens Olympics, Massu won the gold medal in singles and the gold medal in doubles with fellow compatriot Fernando Gonzalez. 

“I always wanted to make history in the sport,” Massu said. “I watched Los Angeles in 1984 when I was five, and in Sydney 2000 I carried the flag for Chile – it was unforgettable. Still, I didn’t think that four years later I was going to win two gold medals.

“It is difficult to qualify for the Olympic Games, and to win a medal is very tough. Sometimes I wonder how I managed to become the only male tennis player who has won two golds at the same Olympic Games.

“But I always worked hard to try to achieve something significant in my career – to win the Davis Cup or a Grand Slam. I was 24, I had experience, and physically I was in good shape; the draw was very hard, but I won.”

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/3mHrKrr