Training colleague Nico Langmann about the "Team Thiem": "Something like that happens everywhere"
In the last few weeks and months, reporting on Wolfgang Thiem's ATC Academy in Traiskirchen in Lower Austria has not been particularly positive. In an interview with wheelchair tennis professional Nico Langmann , who is also part of the “Team Thiem”, some distorted perspectives are straightened out again.
by Stefan Bergmann
last edit: Jun 19, 2021, 07:38 am
Both Dennis Novak inmid-April and Jurij Rodionov at the beginning of June 2021 left the Wolfgang Thiems training center in Traiskirchen, sometimes surprisingly. Together with the poor results of his son in the season so far, the picture was more than mixed, which was further clouded by statements in both classic and social media. In addition to Thiem and Sebastian Ofner, wheelchair tennis ace Nico Langmann is still part of the training collective at the ATC Academy south of Vienna.
When asked whether he still feels at home in Wolfgang Thiem's academy, the Viennese said in a conversation with tennisnet.com without a long pause in thought: “Absolutely! I already know that the academy has been scolded a lot in the last few weeks and months. But crises are part of every sporting career, that affects all of us, and we all have a lot behind us. But when you are in the limelight like Dominic and Wolfgang, people notice that a lot more. "
Psychological dilemma among the players
The question of why so many unpleasant things were washed up at once was analyzed by Austria's number one in men's wheelchair tennis: “That was a novelty that practically all successful domestic tennis players in this pool were inside. "But at the end of the day tennis is an individual sport:" If one person is responsible for six or seven people, then maybe one or the other falls by the wayside, and then it is understandable that he himself looking for something new. It's not that that would do any lasting damage to the academy. Something like that happens everywhere. "
In addition, the players have a psychological dilemma when they join such a successful training team: “To be honest, I recently had a conversation with Wolfgang myself about this very subject. I got some results in the fall of last year that weren't that good when I suddenly lost to people I had won against relatively clearly before. I then sought a conversation with Wolfgang and said that in training I noticed that every stroke was improving from time to time, but I just couldn't get it over to the match. "
"Dominic will come back very, very strong again"
According to the native of Lower Austria, Wolfgang Thiem repeatedly questioned himself and spoke to him very openly about how he could make the training better for him personally. “But he also said that he knows the problem that players with a different training philosophy who switch to him may need a little longer to adapt to his approach. And he knows the thought that I also had, that if you go to Team Thiem, that it has to be the best, that it has to go by itself. But tennis never works by itself, only with full commitment. "
Of course, the attitude and philosophy of the coaching team must also match each individual player. And if it doesn't work then, the pressure increases from hour to hour: “You think to yourself, it doesn't exist, it can't be, is it me, or what? This mental component should not be underestimated. And then at some point you have to admit that the expectations were too high. "
The form crisis of the Austrian number one in men's tennis, however, leaves the 24-year-old very relaxed: “I don't think we all have to worry too much. Dominic will come back very, very strong. "
Next week there will be a big tennisnet.com interview with the personable Viennese about his successful Olympic qualification for Tokyo, how he dealt with the corona crisis and how the situation after the COVID pandemic on the ITF wheelchair tennis tour looks like this.