Dominic Thiem - The touch and the backhand are back
Dominic Thiem lost in three sets against John Millman in the first round of the ATP Tour 250 tournament in Belgrade yesterday. Some things in the Austrian's game worked well again. Other not so much.
by Jens Huiber
last edit: Apr 20, 2022, 07:21 am
In almost all situations in life it is instructive to think outside the box and, if possible, to get a second opinion. And so the assessments of the commentators in World Feed on Dominic Thiem's comeback in Belgrade yesterday Tuesday can be taken seriously. Especially since journalistic objectivity is to be assumed. And so Thiem's forehand was often the focus of the discussion. And the verdict that the Austrian cannot (yet) play through his opponent. That shouldn't seem particularly special: After Thiem's wrist injury, the forehand is certainly the one that will take the longest to regain the momentum of the old, best years.
But interesting: There was also a consensus between the two British commentators that Thiem had lost this momentum, this enormous pressure that he was able to exert with his parry shot, even before the injury. For example when he left the French Open 2021 against Pablo Andujar. This will certainly be observed more closely in the near future, next week in Estoril Dominic Thiem will continue.
Thiem with a strong backhand
What you saw in the match against John Millman: The touch is back. Thiem covered his opponent with a large number of stop balls. You almost thought you were reminded of the meeting with Hugo Gaston in autumn 2020 in Roland Garros. However, Thiem was the recipient, not the sender like yesterday in Belgrade. Millman, certainly not bad on foot, often ran into the void.
Again at its finest: the backhand shot down the line. Dominic Thiem cleaned the lines a few times with that, Millman could only look at the balls without a chance. The footwork was also close to the highest level. Thiem will certainly talk to coach Nicolas Massu about the position on the court: In some cases he was not even visible in the TV picture, the 2020 US Open champion was that far behind the baseline. A pretty strong contrast to Stefanos Tsitsipas, who did not reveal the baseline when defending his title in Monte Carlo. Thiem left a lot on the return: He was only able to win 27 percent of the points on Millman's second serve, the Australian still got 43 percent in this category.
And the serve? The fact that the match ended with a double fault was a gift. The longer the game lasted, the more pressure Dominic Thiem seemed to be able to build up with his service. In the end there were four aces in the statistics, with two double faults. 60 percent of the first serves found the field, of which Thiem won 63 percent of the points. Not outstanding, but a decent start. In this respect it would have been nice if there had been another performance in Belgrade. Because with Miomir Kecmanovic, who has shown a strong performance this season, it would have been a really big test.