A blackout sent Thiem onto the losing road

2023-11-01 23:04:00

Late night show, the second: If he wasn’t a “night owl” before, then Dominic Thiem became one in Paris-Bercy at the latest. The 30-year-old from Lichtenwörth, who only finished his first round match against Stan Wawrinka (3:6, 6:3, 7:5) at 2:22 a.m., also played his way into the second round the next day. This time, however, without success.

The 2020 US Open champion was defeated 4:6, 2:6 by number six seed Dane Holger Rune, who is now coached by German tennis legend Boris Becker. At 12:04 a.m., after 1:31 hours of the match, the ghost was over and Thiem, who can console himself with a return to the top 100 in the world, was eliminated. At the end of the season, the Lower Austrian will compete in Metz, where he slipped into the main field of the 250cc event.

For Thiem it was the second duel with Rune, the second without winning a set. Which didn’t have to happen. Because the 17-time ATP tournament winner, who initially appeared powerfully, kept the first set absolutely open. Thiem had a break chance to make it 3-1.

The key game was the darned seventh, in which Benjamin Ebrahimzadeh’s protégé made no less than three double faults – 3:4. Rune gratefully accepted and subsequently had luck on his side when Thiem missed three chances en suite (40:0) to make the rebreak 4:4.

There was clearly more in it, but not anymore in the second round. It stayed that way, Rune scored the big points and Thiem barely made a single stitch. A pity. What remains is the realization that Thiem works, at least in phases, can act powerfully with forehands and backhands, and looks for the way to the net in order to shorten rallies.

A bit of consistency would be helpful, but the path taken doesn’t seem to be the worst.