Dominic Thiem got the finishing touches behind closed doors on Saturday for his French Open appearance on Sunday against Hugo Dellien (BOL). The four-time major finalist, who has four semifinals and two finals in Roland Garros alone, has not been training directly on the facility of the second Grand Slam tournament for years, but about seven minutes’ walk away in the Jean Bouin facility .Paris. But journalists are no longer allowed on this facility. According to information from the tournament organization “because some players feel disturbed by it”. In any case, Thiem trained with the American Marcos Giron.
Other stars see it differently and give Roland Garros that flair that the fans love so much. The 13-time French Open winner and superstar Rafael Nadal, for example, trained on Friday in the rather small number 5 place, and pictures of the crowds of fans who watched him and wanted to catch a glimpse afterwards made them on the Internet Round.
If you stroll across the huge tennis facility in the west of the city on the Seine, you will always hear an outcry when autograph or selfie hunters have spotted a star. Security guards pave the way for the players, who then disappear into the facility’s catacombs.
Images that have almost been forgotten in recent years due to the coronavirus pandemic. Dip in the crowd was considered a faux pas. In contrast to Vienna, the mask requirement in Paris is also a thing of the past, at least for the time being.
Back to sports and Dominic Thiem: After the last six defeats in a row, the Lower Austrian, who has now dropped to 194th place, is finally trying to write for the first time after his ten-month break. He has never played against Hugo Dellien, number 87 in the ATP ranking. Under normal circumstances, the man from Bolivia would be a desirable hurdle for a first Grand Slam round.
What might also speak for Thiem is the “best of five” mode. Thiem has more time to get up to speed and perhaps the memory of his best days in Roland Garros, when he was considered Nadal’s clay court “crown prince” for several years, will also give him additional strength.
Thanks to a special Corona regulation, Thiem still has the quarter-finals of 2020 in his ATP points and not the first-round defeat in the previous year. For a transition period that has now ended, the better points were included in the rating for two appearances in two years. Should Thiem prevail, then in the second round he will meet either the Russian Karen Chatschanow, who was number 21, or Nuno Borges (POR).
Source: Nachrichten
