Mats Wilander reacts to 'weird' Dominic Thiem French Open loss

Eurosport tennis expert Mats Wilander was shocked to see world No. 4 Dominic Thiem exit the French Open in the first round. 

Thiem, a former back-to-back French Open runner, was up by two sets before Spaniard Pablo Andujar created a stunning comeback to win 4-6 5-7 6-3 6-4 6-4. 

Thiem delayed the start of his clay season because he wanted to take some time away from the game and rediscover his motivation. 

"Yes, this was a big surprise," Wilander said, per Eurosport. "I actually predicted him to get all the way to the finals.

"I thought that he would be nicely rested. Of course, we know that he has been having a few problems with his tennis.

"But nicely rested and he supposedly trained really hard. And then he was up two sets to love, so that's even weirder!

"When you see the whole match he looks a little bit tired. He is not as motivated as before.

"I'm sure he is going to be back, but it does feel like he might need to take a little bit of a break at this moment."

Thiem claimed he didn't lack motivation 

"I was not struggling at all with my motivation, but the game was just not there today,” Thiem said after the match, per Tennis Majors. “Like all the shots are missing power. They are not accurate enough. I’m moving not well enough, so everything in my game there are some percents missing…. It’s just not good enough at the moment. And, yeah, it’s very tough situation.

“It’s amazing to reach such a big goal (of a Grand Slam title), but at the same time something is different after. As I said before the tournament, it’s a big learning process. Despite the loss — which hurts so much — I still hope I can bounce back stronger than before. 

“But right now I don’t know when the moment is coming.”

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/3fG1lKC