Dominic Thiem speaks on returning to practice courts after two-week break

Austrian tennis star Dominic Thiem has returned to the practice courts after a two-week break and everything went well in his first practice. 

Thiem, who last played at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships mid-March, withdrew from the Masters events in Miami and Monte Carlo. 

The Monte Carlo Masters takes place next week and Thiem won't be playing as the Austrian is scheduled to kick off his clay season at an ATP 250 event in Belgrade. 

''Everything went quite well, for the next couple of days I‘ll be working really hard. (...) At the moment I‘m working on my physical fitness (...) - in Madrid I want to play solid tennis again!" Thiem said, as revealed by Nikolaus Fink. 

Thiem performed bad in his last match 

In Dubai, Thiem suffered a loss in his opener as Lloyd Harris claimed a 6-3 6-4 win over the Austrian. 

“I’m super, super happy with that win. [He is] by far the highest-ranked player I have beaten,” Harris said after stunning Thiem. “I look up to Domi a lot so, for me, it is a special feeling. I am really happy. Just the fact that I am playing good tennis, match in, match out now is giving me a lot of confidence.

“I was serving really well. I don’t think I faced any break points. I took control of those games and [in] one or two games on his serve, I gave myself a good look. I played some of the important points very well. I am very proud of that.”

Thiem admitted he didn't play a good match against Harris. 

“[I had] troubles returning his serve," said Thiem. "[There were] also way too many easy mistakes from my side, from the baseline. I said a couple of days ago that if I am not playing at my best level, it is not enough against all of the players in the draw.”

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/3mtl2a1