Dominic Thiem: No Golden Swing - no problem?
After Dominic Thiem's return to the ATP tour, which was recently postponed due to a small injury to his batting hand, the restart is now to take place in Indian Wells. Or only on ashes?
by Jens Huiber
last edit: Feb 04, 2022, 12:37 pm
Even for less ambitious mathematicians, Dominic Thiem's cancellation of the performances planned for next week in Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro and Santiago should not come as a surprise. Thiem had his name removed from the tableau in Cordoba on Monday, due to an injury in the right hand caused by the increased training stress. It should take about a week to heal from this injury, but then Thiem wanted to spend four or five days with intensive match training - so a start in Buenos Aires would have been unrealistic in any case. One in Rio ambitious. And staying in South America for several weeks just for the performance in the Chilean capital would probably have been discarded anyway when weighing the costs and benefits.
So now it's supposed to be Indian Wells. Dominic Thiem celebrated his greatest success there in 2019, with victories against Milos Raonic (who has traditionally always caused him great difficulties) and Roger Federer (with whom Thiem got along much better). The hard court in Tennis Paradise is said to have many properties that are also known from Thiem's favorite surface, the ash: for example a comparatively high ball bounce.
Thiem loses points in February
Thiem would find its way into the 128 grid unseeded, after the 32 best players in the world got a bye in round one, the opening opponent will not yet embody the very highest level. It might have been all the more important that Dominic Thiem came to Indian Wells with match practice. Also with regard to his world rankings. From that point of view, a few games during the golden swing would have been worth something.
After the points for the 2020 final at the Australian Open fell out of the standings, Thiem is currently in 37th place. But he will lose the 180 points for the round of 16 at the first major in 2021 in mid-February. A 1000 tournament like in Indian Wells opens up good chances not only to gain self-confidence but also to collect points with one or two victories. However, it is also true that the results from Indian Wells and then in Miami must be included in the ranking. And cannot be compensated for by good results in ATP Tour 250 tournaments, for example.
As fit as Nadal
So it's still waiting for Dominic Thiem and the Austrian tennis fans. Of course, the 28-year-old does not have to worry about starting places in tournaments, in addition to his protected ranking, a few wildcards would certainly help the US Open champion of 2020 when he returns. Which only makes sense if Thiem is as fit as Rafael Nadal was when he made his comeback earlier this year. So Thiem himself, also on Monday.
If the appearances at the Sunshine Double tournaments in Indian Wells and Miami don't work out, then it would probably be the ashes that Thiem would come back to. Maybe from April 10th in Monte Carlo. Maybe the week before in Marrakech.