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‘Pretty devastating’ – Dominic Thiem reflects on Australian Open defeat


Dominic Thiem will be looking to bounce back from his Australian Open disappointment when he starts his Qatar Open campaign on Wednesday.

The 27-year-old Austrian will face Aslan Karatsev – who reached the Australian Open semi-finals as a qualifier – in the second round in Doha, after receiving a bye as the top seed.

It will be the world No. 4’s first match since his straight sets defeat to Grigor Dimitrov in the fourth round of the Australian Open – in which he struggled physically.

“It’s going to be my first tournament and the first match since over a month, since (my) pretty devastating loss at the Australian Open,” said Thiem in his pre-tournament press conference.

“So still I had to digest that one and to settle everything new. But still I had a pretty good preparation the last weeks for this tournament.

“It’s going to be the last tournaments on the hard court (along with Dubai next week) for a pretty long time, so (I’ll) try to have some good results.

“But, I mean, the draw is unbelievable strong, so never know what’s happening, but I just try to have a good start and to be there on a good level from the very first point.

“I mean, there were so many things coming together in this (Australian Open) fourth-round match, issues from all different parts.

“So that was a very tough experience, the Australian Open. I needed some time to digest everything, to analyse everything, to settle down a little bit.

“But I guess that now it’s done, now it’s time to focus on new things. And here, the tournament in Doha, is the first chance to play better again, to get good results, to get confidence and to forget the pretty tough start of the season.”


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Tim Farthing, Tennishead Editorial Director & Owner, has been a huge tennis fan his whole life. He's a tennis journalist and entrepreneur as well as playing tennis to a national standard. He also helps manage his local club and volunteers for his local tennis organisation. He's a specialist in content about the administration of professional tennis and tennis coaching for all levels.