French Open draw: Dominic Thiem starts against Marin Cilic, possible semi-final duel with Rafael Nadal
Dominic Thiem will meet Marin Cilic in his opening match at this year's French Open. In the second round, Reilly Opelka could wait, a possible semi-final opponent would be Rafael Nadal .
by Michael Rothschädl
last edit: Sep 24, 2020, 06:49 pm
Dominic Thiem had exactly two weeks after his first Grand Slam title in New York City to prepare for the next major. This time on the other side of the Atlantic, in the heart of France at the French Open in Paris. After a good week of recovery, the Austrian started preparing on the tennis court last weekend, and Thiem started his journey to Paris around the middle of this week.
In addition to the chance of a second success at the highest tournament level in tennis, the man from Lichtenwörth is also looking for second place in the world rankings, in the event of a triumph the 27-year-old would leave Rafael Nadal behind and also to Novak Djokovic unlock. The ATP charts do not have the highest priority, however, winning the big titles is the most important goal, as Thiem never tires of emphasizing.
Hard way for Thiem
In order to achieve this, however, the Austrian has to deal with a very difficult draw in the first rounds. At the beginning, Thiem meets Marin Cilic, with whom he already had to fight in New York City. Reilly Opelka could wait in the second round. A possible third-round opponent of the Austrian would be Casper Ruud.
According to the seed list, it could go against Stan Warinka or Felix Auger-Aliassime in the round of 16, possible opponents in the quarter-final would be Gael Monfils or Diego Schwartzman. According to the seed list, there would already be a duel with Rafael Nadal in the semifinals, to whom he was defeated in the final in the last two years.
Novak starts against Zverev
The second Austrian in the main field, Dennis Novak, has to deal with Alexander Zverev right at the start. In New York, the Lower Austrian failed in round one to Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, at the Australian Open he had to admit defeat to Hubert Hurkacz at the beginning.
Tomorrow, Thursday, Sebastian Ofner and Jurij Rodionov will find out who will follow Dennis Novak and Dominic Thiem into the main field. For Ofner it would be the second appearance in the main draw of a Grand Slam tournament, for the young Rodionov it would even be the premiere.
You can read here what the draws for Zverev, Djokovic, Nadal and Co look like .