ATP Munich: Dominic Thiem, Matthias Bachinger and the ride into the sunset
Dominic Thiem is entering the ATP Tour 250 tournament in Munich this Monday. In doubles alongside Matthias Bachinger , who is contesting his last professional event.
by Jens Huiber
last edit: Apr 16, 2023, 09:13 pm
By Jens Huiber from Munich
Dominic Thiem spent a good part of Sunday afternoon with Jan-Lennard Struff. The two good buddies gave the spectators a few rallies during their training session, which were rewarded with spontaneous applause. But that's not all: After Struff had already escaped the onset of drizzle, Thiem hit a few more balls, which his coach Benjamin Ebrahimzadeh served him. Exclusively with the forehand, by the way.
Two men were training at the same time as Thiem, whom the Austrian singles number one will face today (second match after 12 p.m.) in pair skating: Philipp Oswald and Robin Haase. The man from Vorarlberg and his Dutch partner will stand guard when Matthias Bachinger plays what may be his last match as a tennis pro. Namely on the side of Dominic Thiem.
He has known Bachinger for a very long time, Dominic Thiem explained at his first press conference in Munich in 2023. At the beginning of his career he played against Bachinger a few times (actually there were two games in qualifying tournaments for the Australian Open and Doha in 2014) . "After that we always stayed in contact," says Thiem. "When it was clear that he was going to play his last tournament in Munich, we thought: why don't we ask for a wildcard?" And Bachinger and Thiem got exactly that from tournament director Patrik Kühnen.
Thiem would like to meet opponents like Rune more often
The double tableau, which is only incidental, is very German-speaking in Munich: in addition to Bachinger, Thiem and Oswald (and actually also Robin Haase), Kevin Krawietz and Tim Pütz are also noted (as tournament favorites), Alexander Erler and Lucas Miedler are also mentioned start in the Bavarian state capital. Oh, yes: Oscar Otte and Jan-Lennard Struff were also given a wildcard.
In singles, Dominic Thiem will start against Constant Lestienne, probably on Tuesday. There were no questions about that on Sunday, but there were about Thiem's performances in Monte Carlo, especially about the one against Holger Rune. Thiem was looking forward to the match with the Dane, his summary was as follows: "The second set in particular was really okay. In the first, I wasn't able to get used to his pace very well. Because he already plays special. Sometimes he plays extremely fast, hitting the return with full force, then again from far behind. I never really knew what was coming. I hope that I will play against such players much more often now.”
By the way, a reunion with Rune in Munich would be a very good sign: Because that could be the case in the final at the earliest. First, however, Dominic Thiem must provide Matthias Bachinger with the best possible escort on his ride into the sunset.
Here is the individual tableau in Munich
munichmap