Dominic Thiem on the way to Asia: "This will be a real touchstone"
After his second team competition en suite, Dominic Thiem is now back on solo paths. The fifth in the world rankings from Lichtenwörth returned home from the Laver Cup in Geneva on Monday, and Thiem set off on Tuesday for the autumn trip to Asia.
by APA
last edit: Sep 24, 2019, 08:00 pm
"I will play an exhibition against Fabio in Fuhini on Friday in Wuhan. Then Beijing will start on Monday," said Thiem before he left Geneva. After the ATP 500 tournament in the Chinese capital, the penultimate Masters 1000 tournament of the year in Shanghai is on the program. "Afterwards Vienna, Paris and hopefully London," emphasized Thiem.
The 14-time tournament winner took a lot of positive energy from Geneva, even if he had lost the Sunday individual. "It was a sensational weekend. Really long days, but it was incredibly fun. A perfect ending," said Thiem, who also announced that he would compete outside of Europe. "Spending time with the superstars is always an incredible experience. I hope I'll be back next year." Then he would have to travel to Boston at the end of September 2020.
But first, Thiem wants to improve his extremely meager balance sheet in Asia. His previous two appearances in Beijing in 2015 and 2016 with first-round defeats were not worth the trip and he has never made it past the second round in four events in 2014 (2014, 2015, 2017 and 2018). For the 1000 event in particular, he hopes that he will have survived the "laborious in this direction" jet lag.
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"I'm going to Asia optimistically. I'm extremely looking forward to Saturday when I play an exhibition with Fabio Fognini in Wuhan. It will be a real touchstone," said the fifth in the world rankings.
Afterwards he wanted to "finally play well" in Beijing and Shanghai. "So far, the success stories on Asian soil have been rare, this year victories are needed! The increase in form fits, my tennis gets better every day," said Thiem and repeated that the Laver Cup and the special atmosphere had given him a lot of impetus. "But now I have set myself the clear goal of getting a lot out of it in the fall. There are five big tournaments in a row. My form will fit again anyway."
If Thiem succeeds in ending this negative trend, he could get decisive points for the final qualification for his fourth ATP finals in London. With 3,845 points, he is currently fifth in the Race to London and in pole position for the next ticket for the event in the O2 arena. Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and US Open finalist Daniil Medwedew lie in front of him and have already fixed their starting place for the seasonal return from the ATP.