Ailing Dominic Thiem has to give up
The French Open finalist was unable to continue in the second round match against Australian wildcard holder Alexei Popyrin at a score of 5: 7, 4: 6, 0: 2 due to malaise. For Thiem it is the earliest Melbourne retirement since 2015. Click here for the live ticker .
by Ulrike Weinrich from Melbourne
last edit: Jan 17, 2019, 01:06 pm
After 1:44 hours, Thiem gave the signal to give up. Popyrin was nevertheless deservedly celebrated because the 19-year-old local hero had previously given a great performance.
Thiem, who was in seventh place, was disappointed after the recent setback. Sadly he crept out of the facility's second largest stadium. In the PC he then said: "I felt tiredness and pain that are not normal. I felt sick, so it made no sense to continue. I have to check this out at home now."
Bat smashed - annoyed Thiem let the Doc come
However, the 25-year-old had to struggle with health problems. At 2: 3 in the second set, he already had the doctor come on the court, who administered him medication.
Thiem had suffered several setbacks before. With a score of 4: 4 in the first set, he was unable to use five break chances - and smashed his racket completely on the following side change.
The nerves were bare. Only coach Günter Bresnik, who wore his hat despite the closed roof, still seemed somewhat relaxed in the box. His protégé, however, was completely out of the role and rarely found a recipe against the impressive power blows of 1.96 m-Schlaks Popyrin.
After 52 minutes, the world ranking 149th, who won Roland Garros' junior tournament in 2017, deserved the first round. At that time, Thiem already had 21 uncommon errors (with 9 winners) in the account.
The "Dominator" already had respect for "Pop"
The actual favorite had known in advance what was going to happen. "It's always interesting to play against one of the boys who get very good," said Thiem after his five-set marathon win over Benoit Paire.
The first round duel with the moody Frenchman had ended on Wednesday morning at just before two in the morning, Thiem came to the PK after the "night shift" at just before three. On Wednesday evening, the Austrian had only trained in the hall that evening.
But the whole preparation was of no use. The unleashed popyrin, who is only playing his second major tournament, was cheered frenetically by the 10,000 spectators with "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie" calls.
Thiem kept up to 4: 4 in the second round, but then lost his service game for the second time and was suddenly behind with 0: 2 sets. A little later he had to give up exhausted. Another setback after four losses in the first four matches in 2019.