Dominic Thiem - Belgrade instead of Barcelona, Novak Djokovic instead of Rafael Nadal
Dominic Thiem is making a change in his tournament calendar: The 27-year-old will be playing at the ATP 250 event in Belgrade this year instead of the ATP 500 tournament in Barcelona.
by Nikolaus Fink
last edit: Mar 22, 2021, 08:39 pm
From a sporting point of view, the start of 2021 could have been better for Dominic Thiem : preliminary round with Austria at the ATP Cup, knockout round at the Australian Open, quarter-final defeat in Doha and, most recently, a first round defeat in Dubai - this is the Lichtenwörther's previous record the current season.
In the upcoming clay court season, however, everything should be different. For this reason, Thiem also renounced the ATP 1000 tournament in Miami , instead he is preparing at home for the event in Monte Carlo, where a quarter-final in 2018 was the highest of emotions.
Unlike in previous years, the world number four after the tournament in the Principality will not go to Barcelona, but to the Serbian capital Belgrade. From April 19, parallel to the 500 event in the Catalan capital, an ATP 250 tournament will take place in the "White City".
Thiem's decision is not only surprising because of the lower tournament level, the Austrian had so far felt very comfortable in Barcelona. The 27-year-old would have even started as defending champion this year after winning two years ago - and the supposedly weaker competition at a 250cc event should not have been decisive either. Because instead of the king of the clay court, Rafael Nadal, who will also serve in the second largest city in Spain in 2021 , Thiem in Belgrade is now waiting for, among other things, the world number one Novak Djokovic.