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The countdown for Dominic Thiem has begun! The Austrian tennis superstar will start the first Grand Slam tournament of the year at the Australian Open on Monday (third match after 01:00 CET on the LIVE ticker).
For last year’s US Open winner and finalist, his big year begins against Kazakhs Mikhail Kukushkin. “Of course, it’s always interesting to play against someone who has never played before. That doesn’t happen so often anymore,” Thiem explained at a press meeting on Saturday. After all, he has played with almost everyone.
He meets the experienced Kukushkin (ATP No. 90) from both television games and live observations. “I will watch videos today and tomorrow. Dad and Nico will surely exchange ideas too.” Thiem also wants advice from Father Wolfgang and head coach Nicolas Massu, who works remotely.
The fact that last year’s epic final cannot be repeated because Thiem was half-seeded Novak Djokovic (SRB) doesn’t bother Lichtenwörther. “I don’t really care. When you get to the semi-finals, a completely strong opponent is waiting anyway. The most important thing is to be completely there from the first round, because all the players here in the main competition are giant tennis players.”
Like a prayer wheel, he repeats that he doesn’t want to overthink the grid. “If I’m fully there, I have a good chance of going far. But if I’m not able to do that, it can be against anyone. It would be stupid now to look too far ahead on the grid.” total concentration in the first round “.
Looking back on last year: “It was almost the perfect tournament”
Compared to 2020, Thiem feels the courses are “much faster”. The jumping behavior is also a bit different. “But we’ve been there for over a week, which means there was enough time to get used to the place. It was probably a little better for my game last year. But I should be ready to go anywhere and adjust.” “
Memories of the 2020 Australian Open are not only clear to the finalist from the previous year due to the failed 2: 1 lead in the final against Djokovic. “It was an incredibly good tournament last year. I played six sensational matches and lost the seventh to Djokovic, who won eight times here. It was almost the perfect tournament, I was just out.”
He wants to try to get this back again. “Maybe I even played my best tennis here last year. I watch it a lot and hope I can do it again this year.”
The final preparation with a failed ATP Cup was not special. “The ATP Cup was regular. Of course, I would have liked two longer matches, but Berrettini played sensationally, unfortunately Paire was injured.” Before that, in Adelaide, he played a lot of tennis and trained well.
Corona case at the player’s hotel: “It was already uncertain”
All efforts, including quarantine and the like, would have almost been in vain when a hotel employee was Corona positive and all gaming was stopped. “It was already uncertain. If not everyone is negative anyway, it can look very different and the tournament is canceled. It was a bit shaky all day,” Thiem confessed. “Fortunately everything went well again.”
Austria’s “Sportsman of the Year” hopes the Australian Open will be the last big one in the “bubble.” “We were much more than two weeks in quarantine with a lot of time in the hotel room. Now we are playing the third tournament in the bubble, but now we can go out and have dinner too, so that’s much better”, Thiem sees at least advantages ” down”.
Austria’s second top 100 player Dennis Novak will also face world number 35 for the first time on Monday. Adrian Mannarino. You can get a lot of advice from your best friend: Thiem has an impeccable 8-0 record against the 32-year-old.
Looking beyond the first round could bring Thiem a second-round duel with another Dominik, namely Dominik Köpfer (GER), or Lucky Loser Hugo Dellien (BOL). A third-round “cracker” would be a possible encounter with Australian “enfant terrible” Nick Kyrgios. If Novak dominates the first round, he will face either Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic or Polish Kamil Majchrzak.
ServusTV and Eurosport broadcast live from the Australian Open.
Text as: © LAOLA1.at/APA
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