Thiem moves to the American hard court after Kitzbühel damper

Lower Austria can use his protected arrangement four more times. His recent claycourt tour was really positive.

In fact, everything was done: the draw was favorable, the upward trend with the quarter-finals and semi-finals in Baastad and Gstaad was clear, and an excited crowd was behind us. But the dream of the return of Dominic’s fairy tale for them In Kitzbühel he exploded in the quarter-finals. The 2020 US Open winner is not yet where he is, as his fans want him to be. Now the 28-year-old from Lower Austria will start his hard court season in mid-August.

“I’m looking forward to the hard courts again,” said Thiem. “The conditions in Gstaad and here were tough as well. The warmer it was, the balls snapped at higher altitudes,” said Thiem, immediately adding, “But the second Clay season was really positive. When The first disappointment disappears, I can look at it very well. ” The Quarter, Semi, Quarter series was really okay.

It is now important that he use the time remaining until departure for Ohio to travel to America in good shape. Fitness and then another training block is on the plan now and then the US Small Tour begins: Cincinnati (from August 14), a week after Winston Salem, then on August 29 the US Open. Thiem has earned a wildcard in the last two tournaments.

Salary for the year 2020

Especially for a Grand Slam tournament, such a “free ticket” for the Austrian is a rarity. “It’s crazy to me to be able to use ‘Protected’ for another tournament,” Tim says. He was rewarded for his performance in 2020, when he celebrated his biggest victory to date at Flushing Meadows.

After things did not go as hoped in Kitzbühel, he can still use all the PR, as this special mode is called an acronym. Tim will find himself roughly 170th on Monday. Of his total nine chances to enter the tournaments with the standings at the time of his injury (6), he has exhausted five so far. For Cincinnati, he needs the sixth, and he can redeem the remaining three until the week of October 24th. In the latter, it was the Wiener Stadthallen tournament, which also held a wildcard for him.

In other words: after Vienna there is no longer any reward. Then the current arrangement is important. Needless to say, Tim wanted to take a lot of pressure off the rankings in the sand. A title in Kitzbühel almost made it possible for him to return to the top 100.

“I still often play with a certain handbrake, which I only released late in the tournaments,” Thiem says. “It has to go higher and higher, even when I’m nervous and my arms aren’t so loose.” .

However, he is also trying to calm down. “What happened now was completely normal: now everything has fallen a little.” With a training block he now wants to catch up with “one more plus”.

(APA)