ATP Rome: Dominic Thiem - "The whole grid is actually mentally disturbed"
Dominic Thiem opens his individual campaign at the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Rome on Wednesday. The opponent will be the Spaniard Fernando Verdasco , against whom Thiem has not yet won.
by Jens Huiber
last edit: May 14, 2019, 10:39 am
By Jens Huiber from Rome
No, he had not yet been able to recover from the exhaustion in Madrid, said Dominic Thiem right at the start of his debut press conference in Rome. As well as? On Sunday the Lichtenwörther contested the double final in Madrid, then a late flight to Rome, where he had to make several appointments, not least for his bat company Babolat.
But it was enough to take a look at the tableau - and a first assessment that could at least make the Austrian fans a little bit thoughtful. "The whole grid is actually mentally disturbed," said Thiem literally in front of the small group of German-speaking journalists. “So it wasn't easy, but Fernando Verdasco is tough. I have never won against him, he can hurt me with certain things, but I think that I play better than in Rio last year. ”
Dominic Thiem is good for Rome
At that time Thiem had come from Buenos Aires to the Brazilian metropolis as a tournament winner and had seen little light in the 4: 6, 0: 6. Thiem's double partner should also ensure that things go better on Wednesday: Jürgen Melzer . As a left-hander, Melzer could simulate Verdasco's play to a certain extent, even if the Spaniard offers significantly more spin than the Austrian veteran, especially with his backhand.
Nevertheless: There is little or no time between Rome and Madrid, the conditions are very different. But that will not change anything in the way Thiem plays. “I will always play with a lot of spin on sand, but the ball doesn't go away as nicely as in Madrid. But Rome suits me, it's not slow either, especially when it's warm. I played really well here two years ago, last year it wasn't a bad match against Fognini, you can lose against that. ”
The breaks of Djokovics gladly taken away
In any case, he is physically well, even if he was of course fully challenged against Novak Djokovic on Saturday. The fact that the Serb always took himself hard into the limit of what was allowed before his serves served Thiem a little bit. “The match was exhausting. And I wasn't unhappy every time that it took him so long. Djokovic is one of the fittest players on the tour. If it takes so long for the pulse to come back down, it won't take much less time for me. "
Spoken it - and then went to the training court to at least work on the serve with coach Nicolas Massu and physio Alex Stober . Incidentally, the double with Jürgen Melzer is scheduled as the third match after 11 a.m. on Court 3.