Generali Open: Dominic Thiem - Pulled handbrake ends the series
Dominic Thiem was eliminated by Yannick Hanfmann in the quarter-finals of the Generali Open 2022 in Kitzbühel on Thursday. However, the Austrian is not dissatisfied with the overall situation.
by Jens Huiber
last edit: Jul 29, 2022, 07:16 am
Does Dominic Thiem still know motor vehicles that are equipped with a classic handbrake? As he was still only 28, he probably had more to do with cars that didn't have to be prevented from moving off without authorization by means of a long lever that was pulled up. It doesn't matter: Thiem only used the figure of the unreleased handbrake to make it clear that he didn't play freely in the game against Yannick Hanfmann.
The rain break at 4: 5 in the third set didn't help, Dominic Thiem had to get off to a flying start, almost in Le Mans style (can he do anything with it?), the plan failed. According to the law of the series, a final would have been announced, the weeks before had brought a quarter-final in Bastad and a semi-final in Gstaad. Yannick Hanfmann was not initiated into the plan, so the prominent support for Thiem from Austrian sports greats such as Gregor Schlierenzauer, Nicole Schmidhofer, Hans Knauss or Toni Innauer did not help. Who Maria Höfl-Riesch, the resident of Kitzbühel, kept her fingers crossed for, remained open.
Thiem gets wildcard for the US Open
Dominic Thiem's plan for the coming weeks, on the other hand, is quite stable. He will skip the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Canada, and the event before that in Washington anyway. Thiem competed exactly once in the US capital, lost to Kevin Anderson in the tie-break of the third set in round three and said in a press round a year later in Kitzbühel that Washington had little potential to become his favorite tournament. Just in other words.
Now a training block is needed, after all, the US Open champion of 2020 has exclusively rummaged through various clay courts in the recent past. Then it goes to Cincinnati and probably also to Winston Salem, where Dominic Thiem will get a wildcard. Just like at the US Open. The Lower Austrian confirmed this on Thursday evening in Kitzbühel.
Dominic Thiem has earned a total of 180 points for the world rankings in the past three weeks, and on Monday he will be in 170th place there. The upward trend is recognizable, but on the other hand Thiem also noted that there was a little luck involved from time to time. For example in Bastad against Emil Ruusuvuori or in Gstaad against Hugo Gaston. Whether Yannick Hanfmann stopped the upward trend of the former number three in the world with the handbrake or the conventional footbrake will be shown on the American hard courts.
Here is the individual tableau in Kitzbühel
kitzmap