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Casper Ruud gets in the way of Dominic Thiem in Paris. The Norwegian is in the top 25 in the world, Thiem has never played against him.
The first two hurdles have been overcome and it was not easy with the previous two top ten players Marin Cilic (CRO) and Jack Sock (USA). Now the winner of the US Open, Dominic, is waiting Thiem the third opponent at the French Open on Friday. For the first time on the tour he meets the Norwegian Casper Ruud. For the 27-year-old world number 3. it is his fourteenth round of 16 in a major and a possible hit against Triple Grand Slam winner Stan Wawrinka.
First, focus Thiem but entirely about Casper Ruud, the son of ex-Top 40 Christian Ruud. Lower Austria, which “is still a bit on the wave of happiness in New York,” rightly does not want to think more. Ruud surpassed his father this year: first ATP title in Buenos Aires, final in Santiago de Chile and more recently the semifinals in Rome and Hamburg before Paris. Ruud is now 25th in the ATP rankings. At the beginning of the year it was ranked 54th.
“It will be another difficult game,” he knows Thiem and recalls his only test of strength so far at his own exhibition tournament in Kitzbühel in July. “In ‘Thiems 7’ it was a good match against him,” said Lichtenwörther, who won by 7: 5,7: 6 (4) at the time. Ruud’s recent intensive travel activities with the US Open, Rome, Hamburg and now Paris and many matches could have cost Norway strength as well. “Maybe I’m a little tired already.”
He himself currently does not feel tired, he feels good physically. “At some point I will be ‘super tired’. But I think all the tension and focus at Roland Garros hides that fatigue. I hope I can take that as far as possible,” he said. Thiem at his international press conference.
Conditions in autumnal Paris change and much depends on the temperatures. In his match against Jack Sock, the balls flew much faster because they were about seven degrees higher than at the beginning. “But that may be different again in the next few days when it gets colder.” In any case, after the “indoor game” against Cilic, he has now also shown his form in the open air.
Have demonstrated Thiem Also again that the last time he had good nerves was in the playoffs. Overall, he now has a 12: 6 balance in 2020. Unforgettable 7: 6 in the fifth set of the US Open final, before that he had won the other four tiebreakers in New York. “I copied a bit of Nole (Djokovic, note), because he is always there in the tiebreakers, he plays a lot of returns and he just tries to get the ball in the field so that the opponent can not do anything.” . ” Thiem I tried to take that as a model. “That worked quite well in the last few tournaments.”
Incidentally, Thiem’s Babolat tennis bag now also features a star for the first major title. This is also a small motivation for him. “Of course, I often saw the bags of the Grand Slam champions and there were always these signs on them. I’ve always looked a bit jealous and always wanted at least one of those,” he said with a smile.
The road to second star, perhaps with the unprecedented French Open / Double US Open (otherwise Paris always plays in May / June) is still miles long. Next to Ruud’s “flowers” Thiem a possible round of 16 against Stan Wawrinka and in the semifinals, if the course goes according to schedule, the two finals of 2018 and 2019 could be repeated, against the clay king Rafael Nadal.
Thiem will compete at Court Philippe Chatrier on Friday starting at 11am
