Moritz Thiem in an exclusive interview: "It's actually a very simple calculation"
tennisnet.com was allowed to speak openly and honestly about the future of the Austrian number one at the ATP clay court tournament in Rio de Janeiro with Dominic Thiem's new manager, brother Moritz.
by tennisnet.com
last edit:
Feb 21, 2023, 07:07 pm
tennisnet.com: Last week the tournament in Buenos Aires, now Rio. There is light but also some shadows. These strong fluctuations - where do they come from? How do you explain that?
Moritz Thiem: I didn't see the first match in Buenos Aires. When I looked at the highlights, it actually looked relatively good. So it was really solid and he could definitely win a lot of matches if he plays like that. In the second match, I only saw the first set. You have to say, he said that himself, it wasn't a good match from him, not a good one at all. He just made way too many mistakes. From this example you can easily see that this is not completely saddle-proof. Well, during training yes, but during a match it's just a completely different situation.
This is actually visible, so these many errors are also unusual. He will always be judged by what it was like when he won the US Open. That means you will work on exactly why there is this phenomenon, that there are these setbacks on the pitch. Is it just a matter of the head now?
So 2020, that was of course his best year. He probably played his best tennis there. And then with the injury, that was just unfortunate because the injury, to be honest, was extremely difficult. It's one of the worst things that can happen - to the foot and wrist. And coming back from there is just an extremely hard and long road. And some players just manage it faster or maybe they went into an injury with a better feeling. Because when Dominic got injured, he wasn't at his highest level. Well, before he got injured, he had a bit of a slump in form and then he went into the injury with a worse feeling. And that's why it's just taking so much longer. But you can't say anymore anyway, okay, you have to compare that with 2020. You have to give him more free rein now so that he can simply take it back.
You'll have a master plan for what's going on in Paris and what the whole year should look like.
I hope he can definitely score a few points now, especially now in Santiago de Chile and then in Indian Wells and Miami, but you never know. There are great opponents everywhere who are currently simply playing at a level where he is struggling. You have to say it honestly. And now he just has to make sure that he somehow wins every game so that he gets the points. He doesn't go into most matches as a favorite anymore, that's for sure. You have to see if the points are enough or if the ranking is good enough for the Grand Slams and the ATP tournaments. Otherwise you have to go back to the challengers. But these are all things that nobody can predict. You can only see them afterwards.
The change to you as a manager is certainly also part of the master plan, that he has a family environment and trust in the people. Whenever he knows they are always there for me, I can rely on them one hundred percent. That might make him more relaxed again in other situations.
You're right. It just happened that we said we wanted to keep the business in the family. People don't know that, which we may have done on purpose in such a way that nobody knows. But thank God things are going very, very well for us in terms of business. In the last ten years there has never been any problem, neither with the money nor with any investments or anything. We did everything perfectly there. We were also lucky, thank God, that we had a team there and were just so clever in the family that we did it well. It has always worked great and will remain so. Nobody ever had a hand over it, except us. Now we simply said that the small part that remains, such as the organizational side with tournaments and such that it simply stays with us, because I've done most of that for the last three years anyway. It's just less stressful and more relaxed.
Did you also get information from other players who do something similar - for example from Mischa and Alexander Zverev?
Well, maybe a little. We chatted once in Dubai, but not really either. And it's not new territory for me either. I've actually had my hand on it for the last three years anyway, but just completely in the background. Any contract or plan came to me anyway because I was in charge of it. Ultimately, that means that the decision whether to sign a contract was mine anyway. For example like this: I signed the contract with Red Bull and we have now extended it. The only new territory now is that it's so public, or rather that I'm more in the public eye. But that's not really something new either.
Is there anything else in the pipeline that is being negotiated contractually with other partners, or is it more about extension and stability in the collaboration?
We always like to work with a partner for a very long time. With Adidas we extended the time of Kosmos. I now with Red Bull and then we also have Bank Austria. And that has also been extended this year. And they are such partners, you just have to be proud of them. You have to make sure that you can keep them, because they are top brands, the best there is. And the collaboration with Babolat is still going on anyway. We also have a few other sponsors who are extremely important to us.
And then probably also with the aim of having global partners when it comes to the top ten again.
Of course you have to see how it develops, you've seen that in recent years. It's a very simple calculation. When you have a player who is in the top ten it's much easier to get a contract. And if he's not at the top, it's almost impossible. Then the only thing left for you is to go other ways, which is also our turn now, but that's all still secret. But if he gets very, very high again, then of course the plan is to attack fully and then you have to make sure that you start aggressively again.
That means the goal is very clear to be in the top ten again at some point.
The goal, of course, is to get back to where you were. But that is a goal that is still extremely far away. Now it's time to set smaller goals, otherwise it's just too far to go.
Harald Buchheister conducted the interview.