“Very Very Lonely”: Dominic Thiem Previews US Open 2020 Without Fans

World No. 3 Dominic Thiem is eyeing his maiden Grand Slam title at the US Open 2020. The Austrian has kept himself in prime form by participating in around 28 exhibition matches en route to the Western and Southern Open starting this week.

Recently, in a press conference ahead of the Western and Southern Open, Dominic Thiem was asked about the experience of not playing in front of spectators and therefore being unable to drive support from the thousands of fans.

“Tennis is such a mental sport, and I guess it makes it way more difficult without fans, because I just imagine playing in the fifth set on Arthur Ashe, night session, way past midnight, and in a normal year you get so much energy from the fans. They give you so much, all this atmosphere,” said Thiem.

“And now, in an empty stadium, maybe your coach and your team is there, these are the only people, that makes it, I guess, very very lonely, very very tough, and that’s going to be a very interesting thing to experience. But it’s the same for everybody. The one who will do it the best, who will manage these special circumstances the best, I guess, will be the one who lifts the trophy at the end,” he said, acknowledging that it could get lonely without fans.

Dominic Thiem and his draw at the Western and Southern Open

Thiem who is this year’s Australian Open runner up will play Filip Krajinovic or a qualifier in the second round. Thiem who is the second seed is likely to play Grigor Dimitrov in the quarters and could potentially face Alexander Zverev in the semis. If Thiem reaches the final, he will most likely play against World No.1 Novak Djokovic, who beat Thiem at the epic final at Melbourne this year.

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