Dominic Thiem: Close your eyes and through to Paris
Dominic Thiem will compete in the ATP Tour 250 tournament in Estoril this week. The Austrian wants to collect match practice there. And a few points for the ATP world rankings.
by Jens Huiber
last edit: Apr 25, 2022, 11:06 am
Historically, Estoril is not a bad place for Austrian tennis aces, Thomas Muster has twice won the title there. 1995 and 1996, also the year when Muster achieved his greatest success a few weeks later in Roland Garros. The championship in Roland Garros is still on Dominic Thiem's sporting bucket list, regardless of the outcome of the tournament week in Portugal that starts today, a win at the Bois du Boulogne in 2022 would be a pretty hefty surprise.
In any case, Thiem starts in Estoril against Benjamin Bonzi, a man who commutes between the parallel worlds of the Challenger and ATP tours, with an increasing focus on the latter. Bonzi has already won the Challenger in Cherbourg this season, qualified in Monte Carlo only to lose to Daniel Evans in round one. The Frenchman has not played a particularly large number of matches this year - but compared to Dominic Thiem's only two games, Bonzi's 16 officially registered on the ATP tour look downright powerful.
Thiem in Madrid with protected ranking
Pedro Cachin and John Millman. This is the list of Thiem matches after returning to the tour. Once on ashes in Marbella, then in Belgrade last week. Where Dominic Thiem finally got the opportunity to train with the big ones again. About the host Novak Djokovic. In the meantime, however, the 2020 US Open champion has slipped down to 93rd place in the world rankings. Which makes him an outsider against Bonzi, who was ranked 58th on paper.
Thiem will only look at the world rankings with half an eye anyway. Because the prospects for the coming weeks are not particularly bright: in Madrid, for example, 360 points for defense are in prospect. So a semi-final. Incidentally, in order to get into the tableau, Thiem had to use his protected ranking (this is six) for the first time. There are nine such opportunities, the second will be used in Rome in the week after Madrid.
No, match practice is required, the more the better, in Estoril that could mean meeting Sebastian Korda or Pierre-Hugues Herbert in round two. The Frenchman is not exactly Dominic Thiem's favorite opponent. In times like these, the 28-year-old would probably look forward to a comparison with the Frenchman.