ATP Cup: Dominic Thiem - The possible consequences of leaving
Dominic Thiem and the Austrian team were eliminated from the ATP Cup after the 1-2 loss to Poland. This gives one of Thiem's rivals the opportunity to overtake him in the ATP world rankings before the Australian Open.
by Jens Huiber
last edit:
Jan 08, 2020, 05:18 pm
Roger Federer has certainly had many reasons why he withdrew his original promise to participate in the ATP Cup before the ATP Finals in London. One of the Maestro's was as follows: Federer didn't want to have highly competitive matches so early in the year. In the past few years, the now 38-year-old had played well at the Hopman Cup. And with a match tie-break instead of a third set.
With a view to Dominic Thiem's record after his three games at the ATP Cup 2020, Federer's argument seems to have been captivating: In his defeats against Borna Coric and Hubert Hurkacz, the Austrian had to go through three sets, the two-set success against Diego Schwartzman was hard-working. The good news from the Austrian's point of view: In contrast to last year, the physical condition is right, Thiem did not travel to the Australian Open healthy just twelve months ago, had to give up against Alexei Popyrin in round two.
Medvedev could overtake Thiem
Only one win from three matches and the missed progress hurt especially with regard to the position in the ATP world rankings. There Thiem is only a few points ahead of Daniil Medvedev , the Russian is allowed to continue playing in Sydney, would pass Thiem on another success. And thus go number four in the Australian Open. The implications are obvious: Thiem could not meet one of the big three in the semifinals, in the worst case would have to deal with Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal in succession. A worst case though, which Dominic Thiem would probably take with a hand kiss: it meant that he would move into the final of the first major of the year. Of all things, Diego Schwartzman could already stop Daniil Medvedev in Sydney on Thursday.
It has been clear since Wednesday that Thomas Muster will play a role in this. The former number one in the world filled the position of captain at the ATP Cup extremely lively, well enough that Thiem and Muster have agreed to work together. The French Open winner from 1995 is supposed to support Thiem with his two major goals for about 20 weeks: to win a Grand Slam tournament and to advance to number one in the world rankings.
Novak might already be in the top 100
For Dennis Novak , the comeback win over Guido Pella could have marked his first entry into the top 100 players in the world. At the moment, Novak is in position 98 in the live ranking. However, the Austrian number two has given up on this topic: In the coming weeks he will have practically no points to defend, sooner or later his ranking will be double-digit anyway. First, Novak qualifies for the Australian Open. There, like his buddy Dominic Thiem in the main field, he will be in one of the front positions.