Thiem on the cold French Open: "I'm from Austria, I love that"
Dominic Thiem made a convincing start to the French Open 2020. His dreaded topspin may suffer a bit in the cool temperatures, but Thiem sees another advantage on his side.
by Florian Goosmann
last edit: Sep 29, 2020, 05:32 pm
6: 4, 6: 3, 6: 3 - Dominic Thiem would probably have signed this outcome of his first round game at the 2020 French Open before the match began. After all, he faced one of the few Grand Slam tournament winners outside of the "Big 4" in Marin Cilic, in 2014 the Croatian had won in New York.
Recently, however, Cilic was far from his earlier form, and he is not necessarily a clay court lover. Especially not with the extremely slow conditions of the cold and wet French Open this year. And because of a change of brand, the balls are not as easy to bounce as in previous years.
Thiem: "love these conditions"
Thiem, however, was very satisfied with his start - and the conditions. "I love these conditions, I'm from Austria, I know how to play in cold surroundings," said the current US Open champ after his victory. He also remembered the time with the juniors, "When I started playing future tournaments, it was always like today - 10, 15 degrees cold."
And Thiem also referred to his ability to dig up balls. "I love it when it's not too fast. I can stay a little further behind the baseline, bring in a lot of returns. I feel good, and I felt comfortable from the first moment I came here this year. "
thiemkaelte
This ability could also meet him in turn 2. Here the opponent is not called Reilly Opelka, and therefore does not have a serve from the height of the Eiffel Tower. But just Jack Sock, equipped with the most extreme forehand sling on the tour. Thiem will then just dig up.
But Sock shouldn't be inferior to the Austrian in terms of weather. Sock comes from Nebraska and now lives in Kansas - both US states are known for their hot summers, but also cold winters.