Tennis Masters in Madrid: Dominic Thiem loses opening match to Andy Murray

Dominic Thiem’s ​​return to the top in tennis remains tough. On Monday, the lower Austrian lost in the first round of the ATP 1000 claycourt tournament in Madrid to Scottish veteran Andy Murray 3:6, 4:6 and is still waiting for his first victory in the ATP Championship since May 12, 2021. For the first time since March 3, 2014, it will not The long-injured lower Austrian will appear in the top 100 next week.

In the duel between the former world number one from Great Britain and the former world number three on well-attended center court, Tim had to tackle a breakout in the second match of the first set. After that he found his way into the match and also showed some improved forehands. Tim was still far from old-fashioned. Strong on serve, Murray took the break to make the score 4:2 in a very entertaining game. With a score of 3:5 in Tim’s view, a 30:0 lead didn’t help either, Murray finally working to win the set.

Thiem was unable to stop several non-forced forehand errors in the second set after a long injury to his right wrist. This cost him, among other things, a potential break to make it 2-0, with wildcard Murray making three breaks and still having the upper hand after 10:30 minutes. Then Tim gave up his service game and should never recover from it. The 34-year-old Murray, who has been dumped due to injuries in recent years, pulled off a 6:4 finish.

A total of 33 unintentional fouls, 24 of which were forehanded, was ultimately too much for Tim vs. Murray’s powerhouse, who is currently ranked 78th in the world. Next week, at the Masters in Rome, he will make his next attempt at a sense of long-awaited accomplishment on the sand.