Dominic Thiem - the rainmaker from Mauthausen
Despite the drizzle and difficult course conditions, Dominic Thiem made it into the quarter-finals of the ATP Challenger tournament in Mauthausen with a commanding two-set win over former Davis Cup winner Federico Delbonis.
by Dietmar Kaspar
last edit:
May 11, 2023, 09:00 am
And it was precisely in the wet and uncomfortable conditions that the Lichtenwörther saw a great advantage over his Argentinian opponent. “Basically, I like it very much in the drizzle. I remember a lot of matches when I was young, at future tournaments and also in Kitzbühel 2014 I played my first round match completely in the rain. We've often trained like this, even indoors in wet conditions, so I'm sure it suits me better than a player from South America," said the 29-year-old.
Easier initial situation
Although Delbonis has already been able to defeat opponents like Roger Federer in his career and was in 33rd place in the ATP ranking at his best, the 2020 US Open champion assessed his task as more calculable in advance: "Compared to my first round match against Ujvary, I knew Delbonis very well from the previous three matches, all of which I was able to win.”
Regained dominance with the forehand
After his first round encounter against the Burgenland teenager Matthias Ujvary, Thiem emphasized that he was getting better and better at building up and dominating the rallies over the forehand. Against Leftie Delbonis, however, a stronger focus on the backhand was required: "It's always different against left-handers because it's much easier for them to get on my backhand. Basically, there were a lot of good forehands again today, especially inside-out. Of course, the goal is that it gets better every day and that I start controlling with the forehand in every match as soon as I put myself in the situation.”
Prizmic as a blank slate
In the quarterfinals, 17-year-old Croatian Dino Prizmic, who climbed to 8th place in the junior world rankings, is waiting for Thiem. The teenager first drew attention on the professional tour towards the end of last season when he won three consecutive ITF tournaments in Monastir, Tunisia. Thiem commented on the task against the current No. 330 in the ATP ranking: "It's similar to the first round, an opponent that I only know by name. At least I've got two games under my belt and on Friday it's important that I'm fully prepared from the start."
Plan for match practice works
While the absolute world elite is at the Masters tournament in Rome's Foro Italico this week, Thiem decided to start at the Challenger tournament in Mauthausen. The top favorite for the event in Upper Austria committed himself early on in order to collect the desired match practice in several games in the run-up to the French Open: “It was definitely the right decision. Yesterday after the match I was able to hold a proper training session, which would not have been possible in Rome due to space and time constraints. Now I'm in the quarterfinals with two matches and of course I hope that there will be even more this week".
Overall, Dominic Thiem's season record on sand now reads quite solidly. The eight wins are offset by four losses so far, three of which have been against the top 10 players Fritz, Rune and Tsitsipas.
Here the single tableau from Mauthausen