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The sensationalist Hugo Gaston almost surprised Dominic Thiem, but only almost.
Lower Austria could only cheer on France’s dangerous outsider after five sets to reach the French Open quarter-finals. After 3:32 hours, Thiem laughed and stretched his arms.
“I think it was an incredible match between the two of us. He has such good fighting qualities. I haven’t seen a player in a long time who has so much touch and plays such incredible stop-balls so consistently,” Thiem praised his opponent. still in the center of the court. “His stops are just from another planet, I had to run to the net 400 times. Hats off.”
Thiem: “I was worried about the whole game”
After a somewhat bumpy start, everything seemed to go according to plan for Thiem in the first two sets as he had a solid 6: 4.6: 4 lead in his pocket.
The weak point was in the third set: “I missed a break ball at 4: 4 in the third set, that was a slight forehand error. From then on, the game changed a bit,” explains Thiem. He himself lost some energy. “I also did not find the correct answer to the many stop balls.”
In the third round, Thiem gave up serve for the first time to make it 3-1, but immediately rebreaked. Even at 4: 3 for Gaston, the speedy Frenchman at just 1.73m tall, who acted with great finesse and a myriad of stop balls without interruptions, found two more break balls. Thiem still managed 4: 4. Lower Austria conceded the aforementioned breakball at 5: 4, which could have led to the decision. But Gaston did not give up, in 5: 4 the French had three set balls, Thiem defended himself against all three (the first with a net roller) and put 5: 5. But at 6: 5, Gaston used his fifth set to win the set after 2:18 am.
In the fourth set Gaston managed to break again to 3-1, as in the third set Thiem looked tired, but found two rebreak balls that he could not use this time. Gaston walked away to 4: 1 and couldn’t get away from this lead. After 2:50 hours, Gaston served 6: 3 and forced the two-time finalist from Paris in the fifth set.
“I was worried about the result throughout the game. Suddenly it was 2-2 in sets, everything could have happened in this fifth set,” says Thiem.
Thiem: “Physical reserves are no longer enough for this”
“I always knew that the game was very close. In no case did I take it easy”, says Thiem in the ORF interview and explains: “I can no longer play three hours with all the tension, it is enough I do not have my physical reserves right now. That’s why I have to make sure that sometimes I play it loosely. ” The 27-year-old “certainly doesn’t have a full tank anymore.”
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In the end, the world’s number three still had the longest breath. “In the fifth set I found somehow new energy and then I played very well again,” sums up Thiem. In the deciding set, Lower Austria managed the break at 5: 3. They then used their second match ball to advance to the quarter-finals again.
“I was a bit lucky to have been there,” says Thiem, adding: “If Gaston keeps playing like this, he will be a great player.”
While the Paris fairy tale is over for Gaston, Thiem’s dream of the first French Open title continues.
The winner of the US Open will now meet one of his best friends on the quarterfinal tour: Diego Schwartzman. He has a 6-2 record against the Argentine in good shape and at least knows what to expect. “Against Diego it will be rallies so long again. He likes these conditions, I think. It will be very difficult. Now I have to fully regenerate until Tuesday. I hope I can do it,” Thiem said.
Eating problems: Thiem complains of stomach problems.
Sunday night food was also a theme. “I’m not that excited about the food at the facility this year. I’ve had some stomach problems in the last few days and then I talked to the doctor and the physical therapist. A lot of players had stomach problems. Either something went wrong with the food or a little virus he got over it. Then yesterday he was better again, “says Thiem.
Basically, it is more difficult than in previous years to order high quality food. One of his two regular Italians cannot deliver him, a second has now been able to deliver him twice.
Thiem’s statements about density in world tennis before and after the break of the crown are also remarkable. When asked that a number 239 in the world could demand a number 3 in the world, Thiem responds. “The density is very high. I think the density was very high before Corona, then it went down a little bit because there was certainly some distortion of the competition,” says Thiem.
He is referring to the fact that due to the crisis in the crown it was possible to train more in some countries and less in some. “It will take some time for everything to level again. But apparently Gaston trained incredibly during the crown break,” Thiem praises Hugo Gaston again.
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