Wimbledon: Dominic Thiem and Dennis Novak in the footsteps of Roger Federer
Dominic Thiem and Dennis Novak are the only two Austrians who can cause a sensation in Wimbledon's main draw. Thiem in particular has a first hard chunk in front of him.
by Florian Goosmann from Wimbledon
last edit: Jul 02, 2019, 06:05 am
The move, it could have been a good omen. Dominic Thiem and Dennis Novak were actually registered on training court 6 at noon on Monday at noon, but then played on place 3, quasi the center court of the training fields in Aorangi Park at the northern end of the Wimbledon facility.
Did the two of them want to feel a bit of a turf feeling from the famous colleague who had shown his strong form here on Sunday? That was Roger Federer , and the Swiss had a fine day against Tomas Berdych.
However, Thiem and Novak were inferior to this. The training session could be described as "concentrated-relaxed", two friends among themselves, who of course knew the seriousness of the situation. But also the necessary relaxation, which should not be missing before the start. The training itself - as so often quite unspectacular, cross foreheads, cross for back hands, volleys ... and at some point a backhand longline Thiems from the run and at what felt like 25,000 km / h, which landed just next to the line. Thiem dodged the club on the grass, of course for fun, and laughed broadly - as did Novak.
Thiem opponent Querrey: "One that nobody wants in the first round"
Thiem could have laughed after the draw on Friday . His first-round opponent on Tuesday is Sam Querrey, and what could have been a more relaxed task a few days ago has turned out to be a tough one.
# BETATHOMEWI #
Querrey, primarily known for his victory over Novak Djokovic in Wimbledon 2016 and the famous horse-topless video , recently had a crisis in earnings. After the Wimbledon semi-final in 2017, including after a win over Andy Murray, not much went together at the former number 11 in the world. Querrey also fell back to 79th due to injury, but just now, just in time for the lawn season, he appears again.
At the comeback tournament in Eastbourne a few days ago, the American reached the final, "There have been 10, 15 opponents that nobody wants in the first round, Querrey is one of them," said Thiem before the tournament started .
In contrast to previous years, Thiem had foregone a preparatory tournament for Wimbledon, less is more, so the motto, also in the sense of a spiritual freshness after the strong clay court season with the exhausting highlight at the French Open. Actually, he had wanted to start in Halle, a "state of exhaustion" then allowed him to exercise reason.
In a direct comparison with Querrey, Thiem leads 3-1, most recently he won 6-4, 6-4 in Vienna in 2018, and of course in Wimbledon, on grass, the main thing will be to keep his own serve and somehow Querreys Defuse grenades. The return - despite a bad improvement, it is still a sensitive issue for Thiem, especially since he cannot necessarily maintain his beloved position far behind the baseline in Wimbledon.
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Dennis Novak with a flair for grass
Dennis Novak, however, goes into his second Wimbledon tournament with completely different requirements - with more match practice than he initially liked. Novak, sensational in the third round last year, almost held a wildcard in his hands, in the form of a match ball in the final of the Ilkley Challenger tournament . Opponent Dominik Köpfer fended off and won the match - and the free ticket.
Novak only had to make one sentence in the qualifying final due to the qualification he competed in - and so, considering the glass as half full, he traveled from Wimbledon to Roehampton with even more flair for the turf. And with not quite as much pressure after he also defended the majority of his Wimbledon points (115) from the previous year thanks to the Ilkley points (75). The 25-year-old is currently ranked 104th higher than ever in the ATP ranking.
Fucsovic's opponent is not one that Novak may underestimate. The Hungarian knows how to play on grass, and in 2017 he won in Ilkley of all places. In his two appearances in the Wimbledon main field, it was never enough for a win.
But be careful: in Stuttgart three weeks ago, Fucsovics reached the quarter-finals, in Queen's he did at least one set in his first-round loss to the eventual winner Feliciano Lopez. Novak will be warned.