Indian Wells 2019 - Dominic Thiem's "most valuable" tournament victory
Dominic Thiem will keep his points from the tournament victory in Indian Wells 2019 for at least a few more months. The Austrian will probably not have to defend the 1000 points until next year.
by Nikolaus Fink
last edit: Jan 16, 2021, 06:58 pm
When Dominic Thiem recorded his greatest triumph to date in the Indian Wells final against Roger Federer in March 2019, the Austrian could hardly have imagined the scope of the title win. Because although this tournament victory is now 22 months ago, the Lichtenwörther will still benefit from him in 2021.
The reason for this is a further extension of the frozen ranking up to and including the tournament in Indian Wells, which the ATP recently announced . Thus, the Austrian still has 1000 points - and the triumph in the Californian desert is slowly but surely developing into the 27-year-old's most valuable tournament victory. How long Thiem will actually keep the points depends on whether the event canceled for March will be rescheduled later this year.
From a sporting point of view, of course, the US Open triumph from last year hovers over everything, but whether Thiem will be able to keep these 2000 points for as long as those from Indian Wells is at least questionable in view of the great competition - and the vaccination start.
At the moment, the world number three has other concerns anyway than previous tournaments. Because Thiem is currently preparing in Adelaide for the Australian Open starting on February 8th. Incidentally, also an event in which the Austrian will not lose his 1200 points from the previous year - but, unlike in Indian Wells, could even gain points with a tournament victory.