Thiem vs. Bresnik - no winners anywhere
The conflict between Wolfgang Thiem and Günter Bresnik, which flared up again when Dennis Novak moved back to Sütstadt, does not help anyone. Least of all Dominic Thiem .
by Jens Huiber
last edit: Apr 18, 2021, 10:41 pm
If Dominic Thiem had stopped by TV in Monte Carlo from time to time in the past week, he could have observed at least three things: With Andrey Rublev and Stefanos Tsitsipas, two players from the generation directly after Thiem, who, cliché, have their hearts on the tennis court have left. With Rafael Nadal one of the greatest champions in tennis, who on a day when his serve and a lot more let him down, still wanted to fight to the last rally. And with Lorenzo Musetti and Carlos Alcaraz at least two youngsters who are so keen on playing tennis that you can literally feel it even from a great distance.
Dominic Thiem can beat all these players (he has already proven this several times with Nadal, Rublev and Tsitsipas). Requirements for this: The Austrian number one must be physically in top shape. But above all mentally. ÖTV sports director Jürgen Melzer and Davis Cup captain Stefan Koubek had let it be known in a press round a few days ago that life in the bubble, rather jumping from one tournament bubble to the next, hit Dominic Thiem a bit on the mind have.
It won't help much that after Dennis Novak's move from Wolfgang Thiem's team back to Günter Bresnik in the southern part of the city, the waves are going up again. Father Thiem spoke of a "revenge campaign" by Bresnik against him. And thus resumed the gauntlet that had actually been put aside not so long ago due to the out-of-court settlement between Dominic Thiem and Günter Bresnik. On Sunday, Father Thiem went one step further on ORF "Sport am Sonntag", describing Günter Bresnik as a "tick".
Novak with three match wins in 2021
Novak himself said that he had explained his motives for the change to his buddy Dominic, and that nothing would change in the excellent relationship between the two best tennis players in Austria. There were sporting reasons for a change with Dennis Novak: The 27-year-old fell out of the top 100 of the ATP charts again, in the first quarter of 2021 Novak could only record three match wins: against Fabio Fognini at the ATP Cup and against Gilles Simon and Dusan Lajovic in Montpellier. These two successes in particular demonstrated the potential that lies dormant in Novak. But there are also days like the last time in Cagliari, when Novak won exactly one game against the aforementioned Lorenzo Musetti in inhospitable conditions.
In Dominic Thiem's immediate team, everything remains as usual: Nicolas Massu has been in Vienna for a few days, after the cancellation of participation in Belgrade, the focus is now on preparing for the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Madrid. After the events of the last few days, the psychological ability of Massu is probably also in demand. At least there is hope in this regard: The Chilean Olympic champion in singles and doubles in 2004 is considered the master of motivation.