Dominic Thiem claims his US Open win ‘is a different galaxy’ to his form today
Dominic Thiem has admitted that he has ‘stopped comparing’ himself to the form that won the US Open back in 2020, following the Austrian’s first main draw win of the season.
Thiem beat Maximilian Marterer, 6-1 6(3)-7 6-4, on Monday in Estoril and downplayed any injury concerns after recently revealing that he had felt pain in his wrist again.
“I’m no longer injured.” revealed Thiem. “I’ve been training a little less hard over the last few weeks. I’m ready for Estoril, we’ll see what happens. I’m not playing tomorrow, so I’ll be ready for Wednesday [now Thursday after rain delays].”
The world No.91 admitted at the start of the season that he may consider retirement if his form does not begin to pick up, but Thiem has now claimed that he no longer compares himself to the player of old.
“It’s a different galaxy. It’s a lot of different things. I had a bit more power, more confidence. I simply played better tennis, it was more fluid,” claimed the 30-year-old. “There are a lot of differences, but I’ve stopped comparing myself to the player I was before. It’s pointless and I’m trying to do my best with my current situation.”
Thiem reached a career-high ranking of world No.3 back in 2020 and has reached four Grand Slam finals, winning his only one after beating Alexander Zverev in the US Open final four years ago.
It had to be like this – my career was always like the match today – many ups and downs and I love the way it turned out. pic.twitter.com/ksFDgIfws8
— Dominic Thiem (@domithiem) September 14, 2020
The Austrian will look to rebuild his form and fitness on the clay of Estoril tomorrow, when he takes on former champion and lucky loser Richard Gasquet for a place in the quarter-finals.
Inside the baseline…
Dominic Thiem has had a very tricky few years and quite frankly his career has been a sad state of affairs in recent times, with that wrist injury causing major long-term damage to both his body and general confidence. Hopefully the former world No.3 has a good run left in his career, with the clay court season seeming like the most likely scenario where that could be possible.
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