ATP Munich: Dominic Thiem starts the individual full of energy
Dominic Thiem is playing his singles opening match at the ATP Tour 250 tournament in Munich today. The opponent will be the Frenchman Constant Lestienne in the third match after eleven o'clock (live on Sky and in our live ticker).
by Jens Huiber
last edit:
Apr 17, 2023, 10:08 pm
Dominic Thiem is no stranger to a few diligent tasks these days in Munich. As on Sunday after the practice session with Jan-Lennard Struff, the Austrian number one pushed a few more drills with coach Benjamin Ebrahimzadeh on Monday after Matthias Bachinger said goodbye to the tennis season. And with an intensity that was repeatedly applauded by the fans in the stands of Court 1 on the MTTC Iphitos facility.
Today, however, things are getting serious for Thiem at his third start in the Bavarian capital. In 2016 he was in the final here, losing very narrowly in the tie-break of the third set against Philipp Kohlschreiber. Annoying, but: On the one hand, Kohlschreiber, who retired last year, is the record champion in Munich. On the other hand, Thiem returned the favor to Kohli a few weeks later in Stuttgart in the final.
Dominic Thiem would like to take a deep run like seven years ago in 2023, the first hurdle on this path is Constant Lestienne. The 30-year-old Frenchman has reached the semi-finals in Auckland this year (loss against Richard Gasquet), otherwise the track record is very manageable. Which doesn't mean that Thiem will underestimate Lestienne. After the performance in Monte Carlo against Richard Gasquet, Dominic Thiem must be the favorite for this first round.
Thiem 2015 in Munich in the snow
However: while in Monte Carlo you could almost jump into the sea with a lot of running and some tailwind from the Court Rainier III, the MTTC Iphitos is almost at semi-alpine altitude. The balls fly differently here than in the Principality. But that can also be due to the weather: On Sunday during training with Struff, the drizzle created a late autumn atmosphere, Thiem and Struff were only able to speed up their strokes with the utmost effort. That looked different on Monday when the sun was shining. Even if Dominic Thiem set sustainable fashionable accents with leggings in camouflage colors.
Today it can be assumed that the US Open champion will arrive in shorts as usual. In 2015, that would have bothered him in Munich: it started to snow heavily during his first-round game against Vasek Pospisil.
Here is the individual tableau in Munich
munichmap