Thiem at Australian Open in the first round against Rublew ou

The Lower Austrian lost to the Russian, who was in fifth place, on Tuesday in Melbourne 3: 6.4: 6.2: 6 and thus did not take the opening hurdle at a Grand Slam tournament for the fourth time in a row. After that, Julia Grabher from Vorarlberg made her major debut against Estonian Anett Kontaveit, the game was initially interrupted at 1-1 due to the heat.

From the second set, Thiem was restricted in the left rib area and in the lateral abdominal muscles, and from his point of view he also took a “medical time-out” when the score was 2: 3. “I tried to throw the ball further to the left on serve – because the sun was bad,” Thiem explained how the injury happened. “I pulled it a bit and then I couldn’t serve cleverly anymore and then it will of course be very, very difficult against an opponent like Rublev.”

As a result, the 29-year-old Thiem was primarily concerned with catching up on deficits or preventing breaks in his own service games, which were usually not played at full strength. That inevitably didn’t always go well against the number six in the world rankings and led to defeat after 2:10 hours. “The fitness part, the physical part – that has to fit 100 percent, especially in Grand Slam tournaments,” said Austria’s number one. “Unfortunately that wasn’t the case today.”

Thiem briefly left the pitch

It had looked pretty good for the 2020 Melbourne finalist, who had a wildcard, in the seventh duel with Rublew. Thiem initially played well in this first-round hit, showing fine shots and approaches. A strong return game by Rublew at 4:3 brought him the break and immediately afterwards the set lead. It was Thiem’s ​​ninth set loss against Rublew on the tour in a row, in the end it should be eleven.

At the beginning of the second round, Thiem found two break chances, but missed them and had to turn around a 0:30 and then a 15:40 with his own service before the treatment break. Thiem then left the John Cain Arena with the physiotherapist and from then on brought Rublev out of rhythm. The speeds of the first serves of both players decreased, the level of the game dropped. The fourth breakball against himself at 4: 4 put Thiem 4: 5 behind, so the set could no longer be saved.

In the third round, things went pretty quickly in front of the well-filled stands, breaks to 2: 1 and 4: 1 brought Rublev comfortably forward. Thiem brought through a serve to make it 2: 5, but then Rublew served it out. He made it 5-2 in the head-to-head with Thiem on the tour, winning all of recent duels with the 2020 US Open winner.

How bad is the injury?

Thiem is now trying to clarify the injury. “I hope it won’t be a long break – which I believe,” said the 17-time tournament winner. “That I can continue on my way, Davis Cup and the three tournaments in South America. It would have been difficult against Rublev even without an injury, I was definitely not the favorite. That’s why I don’t want to be miserable and still keep going.”

Basically, the Lichtenwörther saw good approaches in his performance: “I would say the match was good at the beginning. It was an open match. A worse game then cost me the first set. In the second set, especially at the beginning, I have two break chances In the first one, I was fully involved in the rally, which I actually have to do. I was in an offensive position there. I had the feeling that it was an open match, that I was doing well.”

Thiem’s ​​next mission would be on April 4th/5th. February in the Davis Cup in Rijeka against Croatia. For after that, the world number 98. Starting February 13, three weeks in a row at the clay court tournaments in Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro and Santiago are planned. Thiem returned to the ATP Tour in spring 2022 after a break due to a wrist injury. He celebrated his last major match win at the Australian Open 2021 in round three against local hero Nick Kyrgios.

Rublew was happy to have gotten over the tricky task at the start relatively quickly. “It was extremely hot. The hotter it is, the more difficult it is to make the right decision. So I’m very happy that I got through in three sets,” said Rublev after the game played in the complex’s second largest stadium, and he paid respects to Thiem. “When I saw that I was playing against Dominic I wasn’t very happy. I wish him the best after his long lay-off with injury.”