ATP Lyon: Dominic Thiem - botched dress rehearsal for the French Open
Dominic Thiem did not do what he came to France for in Lyon: to gain self-confidence for the French Open. But on the contrary.
by Michael Rothschädl
last edit: May 20, 2021, 09:49 pm
It is probably one of the bitterest defeats on clay in Dominic Thiem's career that the 27-year-old suffered in his opening match in Lyon. There were the defeats in Rio de Janeiro against Gianluca Mager - due to the strong performances that Thiem made into the final of the Australian Open a few weeks earlier down under - or the 6-0 and 6-2 draw against Rafael Nadal in 2018 in Madrid - due to the outstanding past, present and probably also future of the Spaniard on the underground sand - definitely easier to cope with.
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Against Cameron Norrie, this 3-6 and 2-6 defeat will hurt a lot more, especially since the Austrian had actually come to Lyon to gain confidence for the upcoming French Open - the declared goal for the fourth in the world rankings. That has now clearly gone wrong, against a - admittedly - strong Cameron Norrie, the Lichtenwörther saw little land at times, and also made life difficult for himself with double mistakes at the wrong time.
French Open - hope for a turning point
For Dominic Thiem, who only returned to the big tennis stage in Madrid after the Austrian had struggled with mental problems since the Australian Open, the balance sheet of the last matches is anything but good. Since the surprise semi-finals in Madrid, little has come together for the 27-year-old, in Rome and Lyon, the fourth in the world ranked only managed a single victory.
In particular, the statistics of the first sentences underline that the man from Lichtenwörth is not wrongly considered a sedate starter: Thiem was only able to win two of his seven opening sentences. "It's just a big step backwards, I had hoped to take the small positive signs from Madrid and Rome with me, but that didn't work. I have to analyze now and now look at Roland-Garros," said a visibly dejected Thiem after his early Out in France.
No wildcard for Belgrade
In any case, this unscheduled trip to Lyon will not lead to a change of date at short notice. Thiem stated that he did not want to apply for a wildcard for the ATP 250 event in Belgrade. Instead, it goes with a defeat against the world number 49. Cameron Norrie to Paris to the Bois de Bolougne. A defeat that gave the Austrian "food for thought", as he explained: "I don't know why it happened today. I was highly motivated, I really wanted to win and then I got a lot of smack."
A defeat that now puts Roland Garros' goals into perspective: "In the last few years I went to Paris to win. To say that this year would be presumptuous, of course. But I'm not going there either to have a first round - To pick up defeat, but to give me the chance to get as far as possible ", Dominic Thiem then shows himself combative - a virtue that has so distinguished the Austrian in recent years.
Here you can read the match in the live ticker!