2024 ATP General News

[MargaretMcAleer]

If he is serious, he needs to hire a top notch coach to get him where he hopes to go. The writing seems to be on the wall though, and I say that as a Thiem fan. I would love to see him find his former form because before his injury he really was my favorite. His work ethic and improvement into a contender was great to see. It sucks that he will probably be a 1 slam guy. He should be a RG champion.

Quite frankly I am not surprised he is thinking of quitting, he cant win a tournament since he has return from injury, even a challenger? he is 30 years old, there are other players, younger, surpassing him, it is very difficult when you have a wrist/hand injury getting back the same power you once had. I would like him to add a bit more variety to his game instead of hugging the baseline, transition to the net more.
Thiem faced the Greatest Clay player in finals at RG, Nadal,
Lets see if he can get his ranking to 50, I am glad he is playing challengers again and not the Sunshine Double, hopefully he might win one, winning breeds success.

 

[El Dude]

I'm not exactly sure what's wrong with Thiem. Did his wrist never fully recover? Why has he not come close to his former form? I get with Andy Murray, that his hip injury took away some of his movement, and for a player like Andy, movement is everything. Has Thiem lost power? Overall skill erosion? Del Potro also had a chronic wrist injury and could still find high levels later on.

 

[Fiero425]

I'm not exactly sure what's wrong with Thiem. Did his wrist never fully recover? Why has he not come close to his former form? I get with Andy Murray, that his hip injury took away some of his movement, and for a player like Andy, movement is everything. Has Thiem lost power? Overall skill erosion? Del Potro also had a chronic wrist injury and could still find high levels later on.

Plenty of players put stress on their wrists for groundstroke production, but no one more than Thiem! It's so overworked! IMO, like Del Po, it was expected to happen! Dom is having a tough time getting it back, but mentally he has to be thinking about what he's doing to his wrists!

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

I'm not exactly sure what's wrong with Thiem. Did his wrist never fully recover? Why has he not come close to his former form? I get with Andy Murray, that his hip injury took away some of his movement, and for a player like Andy, movement is everything. Has Thiem lost power? Overall skill erosion? Del Potro also had a chronic wrist injury and could still find high levels later on.

To me it is a ' culmination' of factors,
Thiem opted out not to have surgery on his wrist, of course having surgery on your wrist, there is no guarantee it will be 100% again, he opted going down the 'natural therapy path' making his rehab period longer.
Coming back on the tour, he played challengers, the challenger tournament is highly competitive, and he could not win, it was apparent to me then, his game was very rusty, which is to be expected, and he lost the confidence in his shots, eg Bhand, which didnt have the same power it once had.
Thiem was given WC into tournaments, again he was going out in 1st rds, like the AO this year it was his 2nd consecutive time he has gone out in the 1st rd at GS level.
I feel he is doing the wise thing in missing the Sunshine Double and going back to playing the challengers, hopefully he can win a tournament.Presently with his game it is the one way to build and get his ranking better by playing challengers and winning some of them, also a confidence builder

 

[El Dude]

It is really hard to imagine him coming back at this point - it has been three years (late 2020) since he's been an elite player.

Anyhow, looking into it a bit more, it looks like he was struggling before the wrist injury--or at least before he acknowledged it. He was still playing well as late as the Tour Finals at the end of 2020, including victories over Rafa, Novak, and Tsitsipas before losing in the final to Medvedev. In early 2021, he lost to Matteo Berrettini in the first match of the ATP Cup, then played Paire, who retired after a set due to injury. He went out in the 4R of the AO to Dimitrov, and early rounds at Doha and Dubai.

According to Wikipedia, he sat out a month and a half to "recharge" with a knee injury, then returned at Madrid, losing in the SF to Zverev. Then he lost in the R16 at Rome to Sonego and his first match at Lyon to Norrie, before losing in the 1R of Roland Garros to Pablo Andujar in five sets after being two sets up. Then, of course, he injured his wrist in Mallorca and withdrew, also withdrawing from the Olympics and not playing for the rest of the year.

2022 was a mess: he kept pushing back his return date, not playing again until March are the Marbella Challenger. Then he got COVID. When he returned, he suffered another first round loss at Roland Garros.

Anyhow, again, it seemed like he had slipped sometime after November of 2020 (Tour Finals) and before the wrist injury in June of 2021. Was he fighting the wrist injury all along? I honestly cannot remember.

I'm hesitant to say that holding his own for five hours against Felix Auger-Aliassime is a sign of resurgence. I mean, FAA. Seven of his last eight Slam appearances have been first round losses, with the eighth being a second round loss. If he does somehow manage to return to what he was in 2016-20, it would have to be one of the greatest comebacks in tennis history.

 

[don_fabio]

It is really hard to imagine him coming back at this point - it has been three years (late 2020) since he's been an elite player.

Anyhow, looking into it a bit more, it looks like he was struggling before the wrist injury--or at least before he acknowledged it. He was still playing well as late as the Tour Finals at the end of 2020, including victories over Rafa, Novak, and Tsitsipas before losing in the final to Medvedev. In early 2021, he lost to Matteo Berrettini in the first match of the ATP Cup, then played Paire, who retired after a set due to injury. He went out in the 4R of the AO to Dimitrov, and early rounds at Doha and Dubai.

According to Wikipedia, he sat out a month and a half to "recharge" with a knee injury, then returned at Madrid, losing in the SF to Zverev. Then he lost in the R16 at Rome to Sonego and his first match at Lyon to Norrie, before losing in the 1R of Roland Garros to Pablo Andujar in five sets after being two sets up. Then, of course, he injured his wrist in Mallorca and withdrew, also withdrawing from the Olympics and not playing for the rest of the year.

2022 was a mess: he kept pushing back his return date, not playing again until March are the Marbella Challenger. Then he got COVID. When he returned, he suffered another first round loss at Roland Garros.

Anyhow, again, it seemed like he had slipped sometime after November of 2020 (Tour Finals) and before the wrist injury in June of 2021. Was he fighting the wrist injury all along? I honestly cannot remember.

I'm hesitant to say that holding his own for five hours against Felix Auger-Aliassime is a sign of resurgence. I mean, FAA. Seven of his last eight Slam appearances have been first round losses, with the eighth being a second round loss. If he does somehow manage to return to what he was in 2016-20, it would have to be one of the greatest comebacks in tennis history.

Nice breakdown of the events.

Today I've read that he has doubts should he continue to play and for how much longer. He is ranked around 100th place for two years now and there seems to be no progress. He says if he doesn't reach top 50 this year then he might as well just quit.

 

[Sundaymorningguy]

I am glad Thiem is being realistic about his career. I also feel had he been proactive and really sought out people to help earlier he could have been in a different space than he is now. Maybe not winning slams, but he could have been winning a tournament or two working himself back into conversations. I mean he has had many competitive matches, but he hasn’t been able to really claim any scalps that would note to confidence. It just sucks he used to give top players fits, and he wasn’t a name you wanted to see on your side of the draw. Now, it just hurts much like how I feel about DelPo.

 

[Moxie]

I am glad Thiem is being realistic about his career. I also feel had he been proactive and really sought out people to help earlier he could have been in a different space than he is now. Maybe not winning slams, but he could have been winning a tournament or two working himself back into conversations. I mean he has had many competitive matches, but he hasn’t been able to really claim any scalps that would note to confidence. It just sucks he used to give top players fits, and he wasn’t a name you wanted to see on your side of the draw. Now, it just hurts much like how I feel about DelPo.

I also think it's about confidence. In his game, but I also can understand if he hasn't felt like he could trust his wrist. And remember, he has a one-handed bh. Then lack of trust in the wrist breeds lack of trust in his game, and it's been a downward spiral. But he can't get out of it, it seems. We all keep hoping he can yet pull it back together, but it has begun to feel very unlikely. Now it's just sad, as you say.

 

[the AntiPusher]

I will keep this brief because all of you have written some very good analysis of why things hasn't clicked for Dominic since returning from the wrist injury. Thiem was the ultimate grinder and his movement was in the top tier level of the top ten. I don't know if anyone mentioned it but I feel it's his serve. Pre injury, Dominic was a better than average server and he was able to hold service with the very top of the tour. I'm not talking about serving lights out like Isner but the ability to serve to hit his spots similar to Novak and Rafa's combos. Without the ability to hold his service, everything is uphill for Dominic which really has destroyed his confidence late in his matches. Confidence is a weapon that goes unnoticed. IMO

 

[Moxie]

Interesting match coming up, maybe? Felix is going to play Arthur Cazaux in Montpellier, up next on court. Cazaux is the guy who just knocked Rune out of the AO.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Interesting match coming up, maybe? Felix is going to play Arthur Cazaux in Montpellier, up next on court. Cazaux is the guy who just knocked Rune out of the AO.

I am going to watch, also Rune No 1 seed and WC will be playing a bit later

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

The Frenchman Cazaux lifted his game in the 2nd set, winning with ease 62, Felix won a hard fought 1st set 75, he corrected his serve
Unless Felix raises his game in the 3rd set, I cannot see him winning this match
Felix had 2 BPs hitting returns long, Cazaux holds and leads 5-3, 3rd set, Cazauz 2nd serve is very attackable, an area he needs to improve.
There you go impressive returning from Felix and he breaks to love, back on serve in the 3rd set, 5 all
6 games all TB for the match, interesting to hear my commies on the match, they think that Felix needs one coach and one voice, not to criticize Toni at all
Felix found his serve in the TB and won the match 75 26 76(4) he lives to play another day!

 

[the AntiPusher]

The Frenchman Cazaux lifted his game in the 2nd set, winning with ease 62, Felix won a hard fought 1st set 75, he corrected his serve
Unless Felix raises his game in the 3rd set, I cannot see him winning this match
Felix had 2 BPs hitting returns long, Cazaux holds and leads 5-3, 3rd set, Cazauz 2nd serve is very attackable, an area he needs to improve.
There you go impressive returning from Felix and he breaks to love, back on serve in the 3rd set, 5 all
6 games all TB for the match, interesting to hear my commies on the match, they think that Felix needs one coach and one voice, not to criticize Toni at all
Felix found his serve in the TB and won the match 75 26 76(4) he lives to play another day!

FAA seems to become relevant during the non GS or master's series tournaments.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

FAA seems to become relevant during the non GS or master's series tournaments.

Felix has made the QFs lets see how he plays against Mayot WC

 

[Moxie]

Felix has made the QFs lets see how he plays against Mayot WC

I didn't watch much of it, but Cazaux took him to 3 tough sets. I watched a bit more of Rune v. Llamas Ruiz. Tight first set, then Rune ran away with it. I've never seen Llamas Ruiz play, but he hits the ball long and hard. Gave Holger a run for his money in the first set.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

I didn't watch much of it, but Cazaux took him to 3 tough sets. I watched a bit more of Rune v. Llamas Ruiz. Tight first set, then Rune ran away with it. I've never seen Llamas Ruiz play, but he hits the ball long and hard. Gave Holger a run for his money in the first set.

BTW that was Rune 100th tour level win,
QFS,
Bublik (2) vs Shevchenko (6)
Mayot (WC) vs FAA (3)
Rune (1) vs Mmoh
Coric (4) vs Cobolli

 

[lomaha]

I didn't watch much of it, but Cazaux took him to 3 tough sets. I watched a bit more of Rune v. Llamas Ruiz. Tight first set, then Rune ran away with it. I've never seen Llamas Ruiz play, but he hits the ball long and hard. Gave Holger a run for his money in the first set.

Rune looked a bit "rusty" but found his game in the second set.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Watched both QFs Felix and Holger,
Felix found his serve and had 10 aces to 2 DFs in his match, 1st serve 72% winning 69% and 53% 2nd serve points, winning 75 61 over Mayot
Felix has won 29 of his last 33 indoor HC matces, he faces the 2022 champ Bublik in the SF tonmorrow

Holger needs to cut down on his UFE, he played a sloppy first set, going for too much, neither player not playing well, Rune saved a SP
Rune defeated Mmoh 76(6) 64,
Rune will player either Cobolli or Coric in his SF match

Coric (4) d Cobolli 64 64 in their QF match

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

SF Montpellier Saturday 3rd February,

FAA (3) vs Bublik (2)
Rune ( 1WC) vs Coric (4)

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

2022 champion Bublik defeats FAA 46 64 64 in SF, in Montpellier ,9th career ATP final (3-5).
FAA 5th indoor HC loss in his last 34 matches and first player outside the top 15 to beat him.
Bublik deserved his win, more aggressive player and he used his drop shots to perfection in the match.