Austrian tennis star Dominic Thiem sought to dispel concerns around his knee ahead of the ATP Dubai Open, his next Tour event. The World Number 4 crashed out of the ongoing Qatar Open on Thursday after losing a thrilling quarter-final against Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut.

The exit of the top-seed in Doha, which followed his unsuccessful campaign at this year’s Australian Open, has led to chatter around his form and fitness.

Dominic Thiem dispels fears around his fitness ahead of Dubai Open 2021

While conceding that he “twisted his knee slightly” during the early exchanges against Bautista Agut, Thiem said that he didn’t feel much pain or discomfort as the match wore on. “I only felt it for two or three points, then it was gone again, so there is no problem,” Thiem said. 

(Quotes have been translated with Google Translate)

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As for his form, the Austrian said that it was a case of a few “cheap mistakes” here and there, which cost him the quarter-final tie, and the defeat did little to shake the “confidence” in his game.

This year marked his fourth appearance without a title in Doha.

Thiem is yet to get off the mark at Dubai Open

The World Number 4 will be making only his second appearance at the Dubai event this year. He doesn’t have happy recollections of his tournament debut in 2015 as he fell in the opening round to the man who is increasingly emerging as his nemesis – Bautista Agut.

Thiem, who will be touching down in Dubai earlier than he had hoped, said that the tournament has a tough draw, featuring the game’s biggest stars.

“So anything can happen,” Thiem said, adding that it will come down to a “bit of luck” and how one plays on a given day that will determine his progress in the tournament.

“You also have to reduce the errors in the right moments,” the Austrian said, adding that if he succeeds in cutting down his mistakes, he will be giving himself the best chance of getting off the mark in Dubai and sprinting to the title.

Coming into the Australian Open in the hope of building on his maiden Grand Slam title at last year’s US Open, Thiem reached the pre-quarters with a run of impressive wins. However, he looked strangely out of sorts in his tame, straight-set defeat to Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov in the fourth round.

In a recent interview, he blamed his exit on external factors and the fast-unfolding sequence of events around the tournament.

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