Thiem’s ​​Olympic ticket at risk from Nadal

Dominic Thiem won at least six of 16 tour duels with Rafael Nadal in his tennis career, 15 of which were before his wrist injury suffered in 2021. In the only comparison since then, the Lower Austrian had to bow down 5:7,1:6 on January 2nd in Brisbane. And there may be a duel between the two off the courts in the spring – for a place at the Olympics. It could happen that Thiem misses participating in Paris because of Nadal, among other things.

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The basis for this is a new passage for Olympic qualifications, according to which, in addition to the 56 people who qualified via the world rankings by the June 10 deadline, two former Grand Slam or Olympic champions, among others, will be eligible. The prerequisite for this is that the player in question is in the top 400 in the world rankings after the French Open. Thiem hasn’t really moved in the rankings since his comeback almost two years ago and is still ranked around 90th place, Nadal is only around 650th place with the Brisbane points. So it’s quite possible that both players will have to rely on the new rule, too when there are still three and a half months until the cut.

Thiem will only try to score points via Challenger in March, Nadal has recently postponed his comeback. Of course, just reaching the final in Roland Garros again would catapult the 14-time French Open winner and currently only 35th Spaniard in the ranking into the fixed Olympic places. It is currently questionable whether he will be in a condition for this. In any case, Nadal, like Thiem, is aiming to take part in the Olympics.

Both could benefit

Since there are two Olympic tickets via the special rule, both could benefit from it. However, Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka could also be in the draw. The Scot and the Swiss are currently very tight in the fixed positions, but falling out is not a utopia given that there are still 535 (Murray) and 307 (Wawrinka) points to defend by June 10th. If there are more than two candidates for the Olympic extra track, both Nadal, Murray and Wawrinka Thiem would be ranked first.

The decisive factor is the number of major titles. Nadal has 22 Grand Slam successes and one Olympic victory, Murray and Wawrinka each have three major triumphs, and the Brit also has two Olympic gold medals. Thiem would be left behind with his only Grand Slam title won at the US Open 2020. To definitely avoid this scenario, the 30-year-old needs to get going in the next three and a half months. Thiem needs 232 points just to maintain his ranking. To put it into perspective: Since his Kitzbühel final (August 5th) he has scored 234 points.