Austria’s tennis star Dominic Thiem said goodbye to Monte Carlo in the second round of the ATP Masters 1000 clay court tournament. That came as no surprise, although the 29-year-old from Lichtenwörther had shone in the opener against Richard Gasquet (Fra). But Holger Rune is of a different caliber, one of the up-and-coming boys on the tour. The 19-year-old Dane, who is ninth in the ATP ranking, got the upper hand in the first duel between the two after 1:36 hours with 6: 2 and 6: 4.
At least from the second set, which was hard fought, Thiem can take something positive with him. The former US Open champion managed to fully challenge his opponent. Ultimately, a break to 3:4 was decisive. At a score of 4: 5, Thiem left his only two opportunities to take the serve from Rune, who was powerful and varied (with many sensitive stops), unused.
“I wasn’t consistent enough, something like that is punished,” said the Lower Austrian, who will improve from 106th to 98th place in the world rankings.
Wait and see if that’s enough for a ticket for the main competition of the French Open in Paris, which starts on May 28th. The hope is alive, detto the chance of a wild card. Thiem enjoys an excellent reputation at Roland Garros, where he twice faced Rafael Nadal (Esp) in the final (2018, 2019).
Training after the match
Rune hit Thiem with his strong serve. The youngster won 80 percent of the points awarded on his first service. His opponent didn’t have the worst statistics either. Thiem had 24 winners and only three unforced errors. Significantly weaker values had been registered in the recent past.
The path taken – (interim) coach Benjamin Ebrahimzadeh was back in the stands – shouldn’t be the worst. After the lost match, Thiem did another training session with increased cross-impact training. So he really worked up a sweat.
The separation from Nicolas Massu on Holy Saturday was “not a decision that happened from one day to the next,” said Thiem: “It has already been indicated in the past few weeks, but only the great time is remembered.”
What’s next? The red-white-red number 1 will compete at the BMW Open in Munich from Monday, the next week (from April 24th) the Masters 1000 event in Madrid is on the program, followed by the home game in Upper Austria.
Thiem is the flagship at the second Danube Upper Austria Open in Mauthausen, which starts on May 8th.
Source: Nachrichten
