French Open: Dominic Thiem challenged by the 2015 junior winner
Dominic Thiem will start the next attack on his first Grand Slam title today (fourth match after 11 a.m. on Court Suzanne Lenglen). His opponent, Tommy Paul from the USA, has one advantage over the Lichtenwörther.
by Jens Huiber
last edit: May 27, 2019, 10:00 am
By Jens Huiber from Paris
Dominic Thiem replayed the illness-missed Davis Cup from early February on Sunday. At lunchtime, Thiem practiced in the Jean Bouin training center with Cristian Garin, the man who brought the Chileans against Austria to the final in Madrid, but who also won the tournament in Munich a few weeks later. The official channels are short, after all Garin's national captain is Nicolas Massu. Dominic Thiem's head coach has recently become her main profession.
As in Barcelona with Mats Merkel. "I have known the Mats for a long time, he was often at tournaments where Günter was not on the go," Thiem explained the relationship with the German coach. “Mats is an incredibly pleasant guy. And of course he has a lot of knowledge about tennis. ”Something like that always helps, but it is precisely in this regard that Dominic Thiem only has to hide from the ATP tour a few times. Thiem is naturally present that his first-round opponent Tommy Paul did well in the USA with challengers on sand.
Wildcard from the US association
But also that Paul had to take a three-month break after qualifying for the Australian Open. Or that the 22-year-old has not yet played a match in an ATP tour main field in 2019. In fact, Tommy Paul is the lucky recipient of the wildcard that the French Tennis Association is sending to colleagues from the United States; the return carriage is available in New York City every year at the end of August.
# BETATHOMEFO #
Paul has very good memories with Roland Garros, however, where he won the junior competition in 2015. Against buddy Taylor Fritz, who was able to assert himself much better in the ATP charts: Fritz, who travels to the tournament venues with his wife and child, is currently in 46th place, Tommy Paul 90 places behind.
Mats Merkel - Paul has no weapons
Which almost closes the circle to Thiem and Garin: The Lower Austrian had his chance for the junior title at the Bois de Boulogne in 2011, Björn Frantangelo had to admit defeat. The thorn was still deep, Thiem had said in the previous year. Cristian Garin did the same thing in 2013 as Tommy Paul did two years later: The Chilean beat Borna Coric in the junior semi-finals and Alexander Zverev in the final.
Against Tommy Paul, Thiem is not only a clear favorite in May 2019, Mats Merkel knows. Paul would not play as flat as his colleague Fritz, if the ball had more cornering on the way, not unlike a classic clay court player. "He still has no weapons with which he could hurt Dominic," said Merkel.