Dominic Thiem and Monte-Carlo: No love story so far
Dominic Thiem (ATP No. 111) starts at the 1000 tournament in Monte Carlo thanks to a wildcard right in the main field. Will things go better for him in 2023 than before?
by Florian Goosmann
last edit: Apr 08, 2023, 10:09 am
Thanks to some short-term cancellations, Thiem had just slipped within reach of the qualification table when he disappeared there again. The brief irritation quickly gave way to the realization among tennis experts: Thiem will probably receive a wildcard for the main draw. The official confirmation followed only a short time later, and again a little later the draw, which gave him Richard Gasquet as his first-round opponent .
It will be a duel between graces in terms of one-handed backhand, while Gasquet should have the edge when it comes to quick-grip wraps. In a direct duel it is 2:2, but none of the previous encounters have taken place on sand. Should Thiem win, Hoger Rune would be waiting for him, for whom things weren't going quite so well after the strong 2022.
Thiem in Monte Carlo: not very successful
Things didn't go quite so well for Dominic Thiem in Monte-Carlo in the course of his career. Six wins are offset by six defeats, a win over Novak Djokovic in 2018 has so far been the only really big highlight of the electorate, which is located at sea level (against Nadal it was 0: 6, 2: 6). The quarter-finals here was also the best result for Thiem so far. Thiem had also refrained from appearing in Monaco for the past two years, and the tournament was canceled in 2020. Thiem's topspin, he doesn't do enough in Monte Carlo for his taste.
Thiem can still hope for better times. In Estoril he celebrated two wins in a row for the first time in 2023, and in principle Thiem will play "heavier" again in 2023, as he explained and as recently confirmed by figures from Indian Wells . Only the consistency is missing so far, the callousness on important points, which in top tennis often make the difference between a top ten player and one around 100th place - as Dominic Thiem is currently one. In the live ranking, he climbed to rank 106.
Thiem will probably only achieve the goal he set last year of reaching the French Open as a seeded player through outstanding results in the coming tournaments; he would now have to earn a direct place in the main draw (without a wildcard) in Monte Carlo.
To the single draw in Monte Carlo
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