US OPEN 2020 champion, Dominic Thiem, will look to leave his mark at the Erste Bank Open 2020, starting on October 26. Having the home advantage and the confidence of a strong year, the 27-year-old Austrian will try to prove that his US Open triumph was not a fluke.

“I have never played such a strong tournament”: Dominic Thiem

The Vienna Open will bring seven of the Top 10 ATP players to compete for the glory this year, including the World No. 1 Novak Djokovic.

Acknowledging his competition, Thiem said, “I think I’ve never played such a strong tournament. It’s absolute madness.” 

The competition is tough and the stakes are higher for Dominic Thiem than for any other player. For that, the Austrian born intends to make the most of the remaining days by training in the new hall.

“Vienna is a very big goal every year, so I only concentrate on that. I will go into the bubble tomorrow, have three or four good days of training on the field and see that for Tuesday I’m in top form. That will be necessary in this field this year,” adds the World No. 3.

Diego Schwartzman denied Dominic Thiem his second major at the French Open 2020 by defeating him 7-6(7-1), 5-7, 6-7(6-8), 7-6(7-5), 6-2 in the quarter-finals.  Reading the scoreline, one can say that it was undoubtedly the most exciting match of the entire event.

Thiem is set to train under perfect conditions

“The hall looks really good. A very cool thing that we have perfect training conditions there,” said Thiem, describing the Austrian Tennis Committee’s (ATC) new academy court in Traiskirchen. He also mentioned that this will become his training court for all the coming years.

Sharing this news with a grin, he added, “I trained in the Südstadt for 15 years. That’s enough for a couple of lives because it’s not that beautiful there either.” Wolfgang Thiem, his father and the tournament director, approved.

The Austrian has the perfect opportunity to cement his dominance in Vienna. Surprisingly, he is also thinking of participating in the doubles event, where he will join forces with another local, Dennis Novak.

Considering that the tournament director is close to the player, we might watch this duo perform together. Regardless, his primary focus will remain on winning the singles title on his home turf.