“Hasn’t Been Going Well Regarding the Success” – Dominic Thiem Reflects on French Open 2021 Preparation

Published 05/30/2021, 8:25 AM EDT

Austrian tennis star Dominic Thiem has offered his fans a heads-up on his preparation for the French Open.

Catching up with some blogging between intense practice sessions and his shuttle ride to the hotel, the reigning US Open champion wrote that while recent results haven’t gone his way, he has enough reasons to feel upbeat ahead of his Roland-Garros opener against veteran Spaniard Pablo Andujar.

Dominic Thiem says his practice sessions with top rivals have gone well

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The current World No.4 wrote that the training work and hits with the top rivals Stefanos Tsitsipas, Alexander Zverev, Karen Khachanov and Jannik Sinner have gone well, putting in good head space ahead of his first match.

“Since Wednesday, I have been preparing in Paris for my eighth start at the French Open. The omens are definitely different this year. For the last couple of weeks it hasn’t been going well regarding success,” Thiem wrote.

However, he added that there are some positives in his sparring sessions with his Tour replicates that he hopes would not only prepare him for the opening match but will also take him deep in the tournament.

“The practice sessions with Stefanos Tsitsipas, Alexander Zverev, Karen Khachanov and Jannik Sinner seemed to be promising. I should definitely be prepared for my first match on Sunday against the Spaniard Pablo Andujar,” the Austrian added.

Thiem says he loves coming back to Paris

Thiem said he loves coming back to Paris, adding he has had some of his most cherishing career moments in the city.

The 27-year-old said he recorded his “first victories” in Paris and also broke into the Top-10 in singles while playing in the ‘City of Love’.

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“Paris is one of the most beautiful tennis places on earth. When I was a teenager, I had my first victories here, I had my breakthrough into the Top-10 here, I played my first Grand Slam final here. Great memories, awesome emotions and unforgettable matches,” Thiem wrote.

He reached back-to-back French Open finals in 2018 and 2019 but lost on both occasions to 13-time champion and ‘King of Clay’ Rafael Nadal.

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However, as he himself conceded, Thiem hasn’t had the best of runs on court coming into Roland-Garros.

Returning from a seven-week hiatus after the Doha and Dubai spoilers, the Austrian reached the semifinals of the Madrid Open before losing to eventual champion Zverev.

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However, he couldn’t add to his gains in Rome and Lyon, suffering early exits at the hands of Italian Lorenzo Sonego and Briton Cameron Norrie.

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Priyabrata Chowdhury is a tennis author for EssentiallySports. He has been a print journalist for a decade, producing news pages for leading national dailies such as the Hindustan Times and The New Indian Express. His passion for sports eventually drove him to tennis writing.

“Hasn’t Been Going Well Regarding the Success” – Dominic Thiem Reflects on French Open 2021 Preparation

Dominic Thiem says his practice sessions with top rivals have gone well

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Thiem says he loves coming back to Paris