After facing disappointment at Italian Open and Madrid Open 2021, World No.4 Dominic Thiem will headline the draw of Lyon Open 2021, beginning next week. He has been awarded the wildcard for the event.

ATP Lyon Open is also known as Open Parc Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Lyon and is an ATP 250 event. As the name suggests, it is held in the city of Lyon and is played on clay courts.

The tournament is still new as the 2021 edition is its fourth. Dominic Thiem is a former winner in Lyon, having beaten Gilles Simon in the finals in 2018. The tournament announced Thiem’s participation on its Twitter handle.

“Dominic Thiem, the winner of the 2018 edition, will be back in Lyon! The tournament awarded the first Wild Card to the 4th player in the world, titled 17 times on the ATP Tour, including the US Open last year,” the tournament tweeted.

Thiem will be the top seed in Lyon. However, he is not the only high-profile player in the draw.

Fellow top 10 player Diego Schwartzman is the second seed. Furthermore, young prodigies such as Jannik Sinner and Felix Auger Aliassime are also in the draw.

A run of bad form in 2021 for Dominic Thiem

Thiem has struggled with his fitness in 2021. He started off Australian Open 2021 oddly and found himself ousted in the fourth round. Moreover, his bad form continued as he awaited the clay-court season.

But a knee injury in early April forced a lengthy stay on the sidelines for Thiem. He then returned to Madrid Open in search of fitness.

He managed to reach the semifinals where he lost to best friend Alexander Zverev. Heading to Italian Open 2021 with a bit of optimism, Thiem was ousted by home favorite Lorenzo Sonego in the third round. Thiem currently has a record of 9-6 in 2021.

Hence, now, Thiem doesn’t have the match practice and fitness level to compete at French Open 2021. The French Open is just two weeks away, and Thiem faces a challenge to be ready by then.

Read More: What’s Going Wrong With Dominic Thiem?