Dominic Thiem tries to reach his former level of tennis

Dominic Thiem lost to Yannick Hanfmann (4/6 6/3 4/6) at the Kitzbühel Open in Austria.

Currently 199^th in the ATP rankings, ‘Domi’ continues his comeback to professional tennis by participating to the Generali Open, a tournament that he won in 2019.  

After a lost semi-final in Gstaad against Matteo Berettini (1/6 4/6) who was in a top form on Saturday, the supporters of the former third in the world, should have had high expectations for this tournament at home. However, they must settle for a lost quarter final against the current 140^th in the world.

Both players offered a tied match in the beginning, to the delight of an overexcited stadium. Even if the three first break points were in favor of Dominic Thiem, he gave up the first set to the German who only needed a single opportunity to take the lead in the match. The second set was quite easily won by Dominic Thiem, despite a missed double break point to take a 4/0 advantage. This encounter reached its climax in the deciding set with a series of challenging games. After several break points missed from each side and a delay due to rain, Hanfmann was victorious – that didn’t go as planned for the Austrian fans.

Regardless of the outcome, this encounter was quite encouraging for Dominic Thiem who is trying to reach back his former ranking. His signature weapon, the single-handed backhand down the line, was there, as well as a powerful serve on the most important points. Finding back a deep forehand with a lot of topspin should help him to do more damage to his opponent – that’s for sure one of the keys to climb the rankings to the top.

Marnie Abbou