ATP Winston-Salem: Dominic Thiem's opening opponent JJ Wolf - the US specialist
Dominic Thiem meets the American Jeffrey John Wolf at the start of the ATP 250 event in Winston-Salem. This is known for good performances on home terrain - and rare trips beyond the home continent.
by Michael Rothschädl
last edit:
Aug 21, 2022, 08:56 am
Jeffrey John Wolf has been a rare guest on the ATP tour to date. And an even rarer one at ATP tournaments held outside of his home continent. With the exception of the ATP 250 event in Cologne and the tournament in St. Petersburg, which is one category higher, the American has completed all tournament starts in America, Canada and Mexico. Longer journeys: none.
In the USA, primarily on hard court, of course, the 23-year-old feels comfortable. And always knows how to provide surprises. This happened at the beginning of the year at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Miami, where Wolf played his way through to round two and forced Stefanos Tsistsipas over the full distance there. Including a winner with a weak hand, Wolf shouldn't have written off the race for the shot-of-the-year.
Wolf jumps in the world rankings
The youngster is still waiting for the big breakthrough in the world rankings: It was only at the beginning of August that JJ Wolf made it into the top 100 of the ATP charts for the first time, and the 23-year-old is currently at a career high with 83rd place. The man from Ohio will no longer be dependent on the wildcards that the great fighter is still willingly given in his home country for a long time.
This is also the case in Winston-Salem, where Wolf is in the main draw thanks to a wildcard. Just like Dominic Thiem, who is a good 140 places behind his US counterpart in terms of world rankings. And who has not played an official match on hard court since May 2021. The question marks about the Austrian's competitive form on this terrain are correspondingly large - especially since the preparation time for the US Open after Cincinnati's cancellation due to illness is not long.
Wolf running strong in Washington
It is, too, because a long run at the ATP 250 event in North Carolina can definitely be classified as a surprise. On the one hand, this is due to JJ Wolf, who reached the quarter-finals in Washington just under three weeks ago and is considered a guarantee for strong performances on home soil. Ask Holger Rune and Denis Shapovalov, who Wolf eliminated in Washington.
On the other hand, also because Thiem would meet Grigor Dimitrov, the number one of the tournament, in the event of a win. For Dominic Thiem, however, in this delicate phase of his career it means looking from task to task. And next up is JJ Wolf, as is so often the case at a tournament on his home continent. And it's clear that the 23-year-old feels particularly at home there.