ATP: Dominic Thiem cancels start in Cincinnati
Dominic Thiem will not enter the US Open Series at the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Cincinnati. The Austrian hasn't really warmed up to the tournament in the state of Ohio anyway.
by tennisnet.com
last edit: Aug 09, 2022, 08:35 am
If you go by the pictures that Dominic Thiem posts on social networks, the 28-year-old from Lower Austria has found his groove on hard court pretty well. However: The conditions under which Thiem trains cannot be compared to those that will prevail at the ATP Tour 1000 tournament in Cincinnati from next Monday. The hard courts there are considered to be among the fastest on the ATP tour, and there is also the relentless heat that the players had to deal with in Washington last week. Maybe also a reason why Thiem has surprisingly withdrawn his mention.
Thiem's history in Cincinnati is rather short anyway and rather semi-successful. Two quarter-final appearances are on the record, in 2016 he lost to Milos Raonic after an opening win against John Millman and a withdrawal by opponent Gael Monfils in the round of eight. Not an opponent you want to face on a fast hard court.
A year later, the omens were already more favorable after successes against Fabio Fognini and Adrian Mannarino. However, David Ferrer caught a star day in the quarter-finals, giving Thiem no chance at 3: 6 and 3: 6 from the Austrian's point of view. Incidentally, that was Dominic Thiem's last appearance in Cincinnati so far: he did not appear in 2018 and 2019 for various reasons.
Thiem at the start in Winston Salem?
And in 2020, the event was moved to New York City for pandemic reasons, where Thiem failed in round one to Filip Krajinovic. After that, however, the US Open won.
Of course, speculating about this this year is out of the question. The last match that Thiem played on hard court was almost a year and a half ago: In Dubai he lost to Lloyd Harris in two sets.
What impact does the cancellation for Cincinnati have on the planned start at the US Open? Difficult to say. In order to get some match practice, Thiem has taken precautions, as is well known, by accepting a wildcard for the 250 in Winston Salem, which is due after Cincinnati. There is at least one Austrian entry in the list of winners: Jürgen Melzer won the individual title in 2013. The last few years have also shown that the field at Winston Salem is large and well-manned. Maybe Thiem will meet Alexander Zverev again there, who showed up on the training court for the first time a few days ago. Understandably, but not as lively as Dominic Thiem in his practice sessions.