Dominic Thiem will return to grass for two matches on Tuesday and Wednesday. Austria’s tennis star is top seed at the bett1Aces invitation tournament in Berlin (12 noon / ServusTV / Eurosport) and will meet veteran Tommy Haas (D) or Italy’s hope Jannik Sinner in the semi-finals on Tuesday. In addition, he will play two hard court matches in Berlin at the weekend. If you include his most recent appearance at the invitation tournament Thiem ?? s 7 in Kitzbühel (which he helped to organize) – he lost the final against Russian Andrej Rublew at the weekend – Thiem is currently playing something like a mini -Grand Slam.
Thiem himself doesn’t even want to deny that. From the high altitude on sand in Kitzbühel to his first grass match since Wimbledon 2019 is “a big change,” said the three-time Grand Slam finalist at a press conference on Monday. “But I feel good, have played a lot of matches and was on hard court in Nice and on clay in Austria.” As the first opponent on grass in Berlin, he would like the old star, who is briefly returning from the pension and now Indian Wells tournament boss Haas. “I’ve never played against either of them. But I’d really like to play a real match against Tommy.” There is something to it: There will still be tour matches against Sinner, but not against Haas.
Thiem’s problem with the surface is that his successes at the French Open in recent years have not left him with enough preparation time, as he said. “Generally I play well on it and in 2016 I celebrated great success with the title in Stuttgart and the semi-finals in Halle.” In fact, Berlin is not everything. Things will get really serious on the ATP tour in mid-August, even if there is still a question mark behind the US Open. Thiem doesn’t want to think too much about standing up yet. “I believe that the decision is not in our hands, but with the American Tennis Association, of course also with the American government, the New York Mayor. The whole thing is on very shaky legs and anything but safe.” However, the 26-year-old from Lower Austria believes that with the green light for the event it is safe to travel there. “We’ll be in a giant bubble, as you saw it at Formula 1 in Spielberg. We won’t have any contact with the outside world.” He expects a decision in the next few days or weeks.
No quarreling with Corona
The past four months have been a very special time, now his everyday life is looking relatively normal again. As the Australian Open finalist in top form, he could have played his best season so far. Does he feel betrayed by the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic? “Not at all. Firstly, you can’t change that anyway, it’s a fate of nature, secondly, there are more important things than sport and tennis. And thirdly, there are also players who are a lot worse off than me. I have six , had seven unbelievable years on the tour. Having such a break in a good phase of my career is of course bitter, but what do people say who just got up, are on their way up and have now been stopped? Or people who end their career soon after losing half a year? “
Adria tour “was a mistake”
In any case, Thiem feels safe in Berlin, where the tournament has a particularly rigorous security concept. “Last week in Kitzbühel we did everything to keep it safe and to avoid risks.” The much discussed Adria tour organized by Novak Djokovic was “of course a mistake”. “You can’t deny that either. Suddenly normality was back there. Nobody broke any laws, but still we lost a bit of the connection to reality there. We just saw all the euphoria from the children, the fans and us be tempted to no longer adhere to these rules of distance. In retrospect, that was a huge mistake. ” He hopes everyone has learned from the mistakes. Comments from Australia, meaning Nick Kyrgios, are “very dispensable”.
Kyrgios had sharply criticized Alexander Zverev, who tested positive, in connection with a party visit and discussed his intellect with tennis colleagues via Twitter. The Australian does not compete in Berlin. (apa / rel)
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