ATP Rio: The knee holds - Dominic Thiem against Jaume Munar after sweating unlocked
Dominic Thiem entered the second round of the ATP Tour 500 tournament in Rio de Janeiro with very little difficulty. There the title favorite meets Jaume Munar, against whom he has a 2-0 record.
by Jens Huiber
last edit: Feb 19, 2020, 08:55 am
Returning to the red ashes was like coming home for Dominic Thiem, trainer father Wolfgang had said before the trip to the ATP Tour 500 tournament in Rio de Janeiro. And indeed: there was everything that characterizes the tennis game on sand: lots of spin, long rallies, even longer slipping phases and tracks. And the inclined observers saw that the whole thing took place in interesting external circumstances after only a few minutes: Thiem's T-shirt was already sweaty after it was imported.
Which of course does not mean that Dominic Thiem's 6: 2, 4: 6 and 6: 1 against Felipe Meligeni Rodrigues Alves was at some point in danger of having to say goodbye in Rio right away. Like Guido Pella, who lost the night game against Thiago Monteiro, or what happened to Albert Ramos-Vinolas and Fernando Verdasco on Monday. No, the break to 3: 4 in the second set was annoying, but the whole matter against number 341 in the world only took a little over two hours. The fact that the knee pinched in between, the physio even had to put on a bandage, is hopefully not a good cause for concern. In any case, Thiem gave the all-clear after the match ended.
Thiem after and before fitness training
After the Australian Open, Thiem played comparatively little tennis, with a focus on working on fitness. It will be the same after Rio de Janeiro if sports doctor Dr. Michael Reinprecht comes to Los Angeles to tweak the physical condition of the current number four in the world a little. There is currently not much room for improvement in this area, as the seven appearances in Melbourne have shown. Nevertheless, Thiem would of course like to travel to Indian Wells in the best possible shape to defend the greatest title of his career.
The one in Rio de Janeiro doesn't sparkle as brightly, but Dominic Thiem would also like to take the 500 points with him. He would not only have overtaken Roger Federer in the ATP world rankings (this would already be the case with a semi-final), but would also have given himself a small cushion of points on the Swiss, who will have their hands full anyway in the upcoming one Week to defend his success in Dubai.
The upcoming task is not uncomfortable for Dominic Thiem: It is against the Spaniard Jaume Munar, who was able to assert himself in round two against Salvatore Caruso in two sets. So far, Thiem and Munar have only had mutual pleasure in Barcelona, on both occasions the Austrian left the court as the winner.