Can Thiem turn a corner in Vienna?

Published by Matt Trollope

Dominic Thiem has gone winless since Austria's Davis Cup zone-group tie against Romania in early September; Getty Images
Dominic Thiem is carrying a three-match losing streak into the ATP tournament in Vienna. Can he turn it around on home soil as he tries to build some momentum ahead of the ATP Finals?

Austrian Dominic Thiem is hoping the home fans can lift him in Vienna as he seeks to snap a three-match losing streak this week.

Thiem is the second seed at the ATP 500 event and opens against Russian young gun Andrey Rublev on the indoor hard courts. The tournament is headed by top seed Alexander Zverev.

Both Zverev and Thiem have already qualified for the ATP Finals in London, yet unlike the German, Thiem is limping to the finish line, having failed to win a match during the season’s post-US Open Asian swing.

He fell at the first hurdle in Chengdu, Tokyo and Shanghai, the latter his 24th tournament of the year.

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“As he’s come off clay you get to the faster surfaces. His match scores are tight but he’s playing defensive tennis,” Australian doubles legend Todd Woodbridge observed.

“He hits the ball hard and aggressively but he doesn’t finish points effectively. And that’s the next step for him to become a better player on all surfaces.

“I watch him and I’m sometimes in awe of his ball-striking, but I don’t think his tactical awareness of how to beat opponents is as sharp as it possible could be.

“Is he really improving everything in his arsenal to go to these next levels? That’s the question I would be asking him: how are you going to become a better player on all surfaces?”

Indeed, since Roland Garros, Thiem is a lukewarm 12-9. Take out his two claycourt victories in Davis Cup, and he’s 10-9 across grass and hard courts since June.

The players in his section in Vienna – Rublev in round one, Feliciano Lopez or Richard Gasquet in round two, and possibly Kevin Anderson or Lucas Pouille in the quarters – thrive on faster surfaces such as an indoor hard court.

Thiem’s loaded playing schedule does not seem to be helping affairs. For the second straight season, he’ll finish the year with a tournament tally in the high 20s, far more than any other player in the top 10 (except for fellow workhorse David Goffin).

A feature of his losses in the second half of the year have been the gruelling three-set scorelines.

According to Woodbridge, Thiem is struggling for freshness, something that would be helped if he made a few adjustments on a faster surface to win matches more quickly – and thus conserve energy.

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“There’s no player in the world who’s able to play at their best playing 24, 25, 27 tournaments a year,” Woodbridge said. “You’ve got to say he needs to address his schedule and work out how to hit the peaks at the right time to win more often.

“You need to beat opponents quickly and efficiently, and when you have those chances, take them. His game style allows his opponent back into the match quite often … as opposed to a Nick Kyrgios; if he’s on form, he beats opponents quite quickly because he wins service games quite fast, he builds pressure back around on that next game. Same with Roger Federer. They effectively win with a lot less effort than what Dominic does.

“Watching (Thiem) closely, I think he’s got a game that still has an upside. (He needs to work out) how do I approach off a ball? When do I stand up on the court and take time away from my opponent? Because he’s a very deep player.

“Where can he improve those things that build pressure on his opponents? That’s what the great players do.”

Zverev, meanwhile, opens against Viktor Troicki – who beat Thiem recently in Shanghai – and is projected to meet in the quarterfinals Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who won the title in Antwerp at the weekend.

Other notable names in the draw include third seed Grigor Dimitrov, fourth seed and US Open semifinalist Pablo Carreno Busta, and Americans John Isner and Sam Querrey, seeded fifth and sixth respectively.

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